Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse just got one person bigger: Adam Wingard will direct Godzilla vs. Kong, scheduled for May, 2020 release. This news, reported by Deadline, comes before any announcement of a screenwriter, although Legendary revealed in March that a huge “writers’ room” for the series has been formed with talent that includes Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne (Star Trek Beyond), T.S. Nowlin (The Maze Runner) and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5).
Godzilla vs. Kong will be the fourth movie in the Monsterverse, following the already-released Godzilla (2014), directed by Gareth Edwards, and Kong: Skull Island (2017), directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. The third movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, directed by Michael Dougherty, will be released in 2019.
With the exception of Vogt-Roberts, Wingard’s involvement follows Legendary’s pattern of hiring independent filmmakers who have previously made horror films, albeit on a smaller scale. Edwards directed Monsters in 2010 and Dougherty directed Trick ‘r Treat in 2007 and Krampus in 2015. Wingard has the most expansive genre resume with You’re Next (2011), The Guest (2014) and Blair Witch (2016).
None of this has anything to do with King Kong Skull Island, an upcoming TV show written by Jonathan Penner and Stacy Title (The Bye Bye Man), or with Dark Universe, the recently announced shared cinematic universe project happening at Universal that launches with next week’s release of The Mummy. There’s a lot of world-building going on right now…
