It seems this news is bullshite, if we go by Marshall's wife's tweet below. Bummer, would have been great!
Neil Marshall is headed to Skull Island! According to The Tracking Board, Marshall, the man who gifted us with DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT, is in line to direct and co-write an adaptation of Joe Devito and Brad Strickland's Based on Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland’s 2004 graphic novel KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND.
So while this isn't exactly a direct sequel to any of the KING KONG films that have come before, this can still be considered a brand new Kong film. Evidently the graphic novel was based on the original novel that inspired the all-time classic film. (It was also authorized by the estate of original KING KONG director Merian C. Cooper.) Pretty exciting!
Here's the book's synopsis:
In 1933, American showman Carl Denham returned from a mysterious, hidden island with a priceless treasure. A treasure not gold or jewels, but the island's barbaric god, a monstrous anthropoid called "Kong." The savage giant escaped and wreaked havoc among the man-made canyons of Manhattan, but within hours of the giant ape's death his body – and Carl Denham – disappeared.
Twenty-five years later, the son of Carl Denham makes a shocking discovery that leads him back to the site of his father's greatest adventure and to the answers that will unlock the century's greatest mystery and history's greatest miracle.
Ted Field's Radar Pictures (RIDDICK, THE BOX) is on board to produce the film, along with Steve Iles and Arnold Kunert's Spirit Pictures.