Spoilers Godzilla vs. Kong release thread

[Skipper]

Oh, for fuck's sake. It's a thread about an ape and a lizard fighting and you feel the need to drag Zack Snyder into it ... why? I swear to God, the way some people let him live rent-free in their minds because he made some polarizing cape movies is both hilarious and mildly disturbing.

Edit: And, really, "pretentious" is probably the last adjective I'd ever use to describe Snyder. If anything, he's refreshingly earnest and wears his enthusiasm on his sleeve. We live in a world in which Lars Von Trier, Terence Malick, Darren Aronofsky, Quentin Tarantino, Harmony Korine, Terry Gilliam, Tarsem Singh, Richard Kelly and Nicholas Winding Refn are all making movies; to say Snyder isn't just pretentious but the "most pretentious director of all time" demonstrates a rather striking lack of perspective.

Weel, obviously he has seen all the films of all the filmographies of all the directors of all countries of the world, and among these hundreds of thousands of people (but probably millions, really!), he has decided that Snyder is the most pretentious of them all

 

[captainkirk]

It was a harmless joke, or so I thought. I don't actually care much about either Nolan or Snyder, but they both have obnoxious fanbases who think their movies are much deeper than they actually are. It just amused me that Nolan had this idea that Tenet was going to be what draws everyone back to cinemas and then Snyder fans think Justice League is going to set the world on fire but it turns out that a movie with a simple plot and light-hearted action is what everyone actually wants.

 

[thribs]

I don’t think JL had a wide cinema release. That was always more of a HBO Max thing

 

[Skipper]

It was a harmless joke, or so I thought. I don't actually care much about either Nolan or Snyder, but they both have obnoxious fanbases who think their movies are much deeper than they actually are. It just amused me that Nolan had this idea that Tenet was going to be what draws everyone back to cinemas and then Snyder fans think Justice League is going to set the world on fire but it turns out that a movie with a simple plot and light-hearted action is what everyone actually wants.

Let's watch some french or italian art house films from the 70s, and after that we will decide who is the most most pretentious director of all time

 

[Skywalker]

Anyway...

While GvK does seem to kind of be the natural endpoint of the MonsterVerse--seriously, where else can you go with this after having your two big guns meet and go up against each other?--I do wonder if WB are going to try for a sequel since it seems to be a hit. It's actually doing quite well at the box office, especially in China, and it's already made almost as much money as KotM did, and all during a pandemic. Plus who knows how many HBO Max subscriptions it might have sold?

 

[Skipper]

Anyway...

While GvK does seem to kind of be the natural endpoint of the MonsterVerse--seriously, where else can you go with this after having your two big guns meet and go up against each other?--I do wonder if WB are going to try for a sequel since it seems to be a hit. It's actually doing quite well at the box office, especially in China, and it's already made almost as much money as KotM did, and all during a pandemic. Plus who knows how many HBO Max subscriptions it might have sold?

MECHARODAN FROM.... SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

 

[Christopher]

I don't actually care much about either Nolan or Snyder, but they both have obnoxious fanbases who think their movies are much deeper than they actually are.

I don't disagree about Snyder's fanbase, but the behavior of his fanbase doesn't mean the director himself is pretentious. Pretentiousness isn't about how others perceive you, it's about how you present yourself. I think maybe there is a degree of pretentiousness in Snyder's filmmaking, but I'd hardly say he's the most pretentious director ever. He's got generations of steep competition there. People are far too quick to confuse "most prominent in my immediately recent awareness" for "most extreme in all of history," which is deeply solipsistic -- and indeed is quite pretentious in itself.

 

[Skipper]

I don't disagree about Snyder's fanbase, but the behavior of his fanbase doesn't mean the director himself is pretentious. Pretentiousness isn't about how others perceive you, it's about how you present yourself. I think maybe there is a degree of pretentiousness in Snyder's filmmaking, but I'd hardly say he's the most pretentious director ever. He's got generations of steep competition there. People are far too quick to confuse "most prominent in my immediately recent awareness" for "most extreme in all of history," which is deeply solipsistic -- and indeed is quite pretentious in itself.

And when people write "THE WORST MOVIE EVER!!!!"?

I... can't... even...

 

[Christopher]

And when people write "THE WORST MOVIE EVER!!!!"?

I... can't... even...

Yes, that's pretentious too. It's hard to have intelligent discussions about anything when people on both sides default to hyperbole.

 

[captainkirk]

While GvK does seem to kind of be the natural endpoint of the MonsterVerse--seriously, where else can you go with this after having your two big guns meet and go up against each other?

I'm still holding out hope for Legendary to get the license for Gamera. It's an extreme longshot, but always a possibility. It would probably make no money, but I'd watch it.

 

[Timby]

A
While GvK does seem to kind of be the natural endpoint of the MonsterVerse--seriously, where else can you go with this after having your two big guns meet and go up against each other?--I do wonder if WB are going to try for a sequel since it seems to be a hit. It's actually doing quite well at the box office, especially in China, and it's already made almost as much money as KotM did, and all during a pandemic. Plus who knows how many HBO Max subscriptions it might have sold?

The original agreement between Legendary Pictures and Toho was for three Godzilla movies, so that pact has been fulfilled. There were some reports that Toho wasn't thrilled with certain aspects of the 2014 movie and King of the Monsters, but I don't know if those reports were ever fully substantiated.

In any event, Toho is known to be working on its own relaunch of the Godzilla series (as in a traditional Godzilla series; there are no plans for a direct sequel to Shin Godzilla) but was prohibited from announcing anything publicly until Legendary was through with its three movies. So, really, it ultimately depends on if Legendary and Toho decide they want to continue doing business together, or if they decide to go their separate ways. Legendary has said that it wants to continue the MonsterVerse indefinitely, which leaves the ball in Toho's court; if I were a betting man, however, I would put my chips on Toho electing not to renew its licensing agreement--the studio is extremely protective of the Godzilla IP, and I would imagine they will want their Godzilla relaunch to be the only active use of the Godzilla property.

 

[Christopher]

Legendary has said that it wants to continue the MonsterVerse indefinitely, which leaves the ball in Toho's court; if I were a betting man, however, I would put my chips on Toho electing not to renew its licensing agreement--the studio is extremely protective of the Godzilla IP, and I would imagine they will want their Godzilla relaunch to be the only active use of the Godzilla property.

Hmm... Could Legendary continue the MonsterVerse without Godzilla and the other Toho kaiju? Say, center it on Monarch, Kong, and other original Titans? Like how Marvel kept using the Dire Wraiths after it lost the Rom license, because it had created the Dire Wraiths instead of licensing them? (I think that also happened with some characters and concepts from Marvel's Godzilla series, for that matter.)

 

[Timby]

Hmm... Could Legendary continue the MonsterVerse without Godzilla and the other Toho kaiju? Say, center it on Monarch, Kong, and other original Titans? Like how Marvel kept using the Dire Wraiths after it lost the Rom license, because it had created the Dire Wraiths instead of licensing them? (I think that also happened with some characters and concepts from Marvel's Godzilla series, for that matter.)

Theoretically, yes, but the relationship between Legendary and Universal (which owns most, but not all, of the rights to King Kong; the entirety of Kong's licensing is a nightmare and a half to unpack) has become pretty frosty over the past few years and I believe Universal has said it has no interest in doing further business with Legendary at this time. In any event, I feel like Godzilla is the big draw of the MonsterVerse, and attempting to continue the franchise without the King of the Monsters would be like making a fourth Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movie without the Enterprise.

 

[captainkirk]

And does Legendary want to continue working with WB? After the whole HBOMax thing, I could see them parting ways and making a deal with Netflix.

 

[Christopher]

Well, Legendary's still got Pacific Rim, I guess...

 

[Skipper]

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[Velocity]

I think I enjoyed the monster fights in King of the Monsters just a little bit more, though admittedly that's probably because I'm the biggest fanboy of King Ghidorah on the planet, but all in all, this scratched my itches in all the right places, and if this is truly the end of the MonsterVerse, as has been indicated, then the series is going out on a pretty high note.

Ghidorah is one of my all time favorites, too! (accent on the first syllable, please) I hope this isn't the end of the MonsterVerse and we can see him again along with others.

 

[crookeddy]

So why is it fine for Godzilla to destroy a city while fighting, but not Superman?

 

[captainkirk]

So why is it fine for Godzilla to destroy a city while fighting, but not Superman?

Because Godzilla is supposed to be an unstoppable force of nature, and often we're in his way. He's neither good nor evil. Superman is supposed to be an unstoppable force of good who will do anything to save lives.

 

[Skipper]

It's literally what Godzilla is famous for. It's like asking " Why it is fine in a earthquake movie for the earthquake to destroy a city while earthquaking, but not Superman?"