| “ | Witness their bloodiest battle | „ |
— Tagline |
Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse is a 2028 American kaiju film directed by Adam Wingard. Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a sequel to 2026's Godzilla: Modern Warfare, and the seventh film in the MonsterVerse. It is also the 43rd film of the Godzilla franchise, the 15th film in the King Kong franchise, and the sixth Godzilla film to be completely produced by an American film studio. The film stars Jason Statham, Frank Grillo, Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Zhang Ziyi, Charles Dance, Toby Kebbell and T.J. Storm. All except Statham and Grillo reprise their roles from previous entries in the series, with Kebbell and Storm providing motion capture for King Kong and Godzilla. In the film, an unprecedented threat in the Hollow Earth summons two deadly Titans bent on world destruction, with Kong and Godzilla having to work together to stop these new threats.
Before the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, director Adam Wingard expressed interest in creating another film for the MonsterVerse, to conclude his trilogy of films. After the commercial success of the film and the completion of his A24 film, Wingard already started to outline the story with co-story writer Simon Barrett, who he then worked with Terry Rossio to revise it into a screenplay. Because of how the last film received lackluster reviews, Wingard expressed his interest to turn this film into a finale of the MonsterVerse. In the midst of working on his film, Michael Dougherty co-wrote the screenplay with Zach Shields, after Rossio and Barrett finished their latest draft. He would expand the roster of monsters to Hedorah, Destoroyah and Biollante, with Legendary managing to gain the license for soon after, at the bequest of Wingard. Principal photography began in December 2026 and wrapped in March 2027, on a production budget of $190-215 million.
Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse was released on May 19, 2028 in the United States. The film received mixed reviews, praised for its action sequences and visual effects, as well as Statham and Grillo's performances, while criticism was aimed at the rest of the characters and writing. It grossed $659.3 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing film of the MonsterVerse at the time, the highest-grossing in the Godzilla franchise at the time, the highest-grossing in the King Kong franchise at the time, and the sixth-highest grossing film of 2028. It was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 101st Academy Awards. A follow-up, titled Mothra x Kong: Dawn of Extinction, was released on September 13, 2030.
Plot[]
By 2030, Alan Jonah and his men recover a sample from the Gulf of Mexico, and find a colony of microorganisms mutated from the Oxygen Destroyer bioweapon, as well as a mutated slug that was affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from 2010. Jonah finds potential within these super-specimens, opting to go to the Hollow Earth to mutate and turn these specimens into Titans that would finally rid the world of humanity's mistakes. With two hijacked HEAVs, they make their way into Hollow Earth, where they find a high energy source to irradiate these Titans to full strength. They find what seems to be a dead tree. Once they trigger the energy source using C4s, the energy unleashed gets absorbed by the two, mutating them into the two Titans that Jonah dubs "Destoroyah" and "Hedorah." Suddenly, a whip-like branch consumes a number of the soldiers. Seeing a giant, hulking head emerge from the dead tree, Jonah and his men immediately retreat, as the two Titans attack the plant Titan. The fight doesn't last very long, as the plant Titan strangles the two of them and unleashes a flurry of pollen on them. Upon contact with the pollen, the Titans seemed to be hypnotized and controlled, because soon after, the beast roared at them and the two fly up to the sky.
In the surface, Leland Jonah and Martin Burr chase a rampant Behemoth that has been charging wild in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on their anti-gravity attack vehicles (AGAVs). Godzilla, radiating bright purple and pink, shows up to pacify the creature, and the pair uses their injector cannons to sedate Behemoth. Godzilla acknowledges the two vehicles circling the scene, and carries Behemoth back to his lair. As Godzilla heads back to shore, Ilene Andrews radios in from a separate AGAV, congratulating them on their recent success with their newest unit in the Special Titan Chaser Forces. Once they had back to their headquarters in Bermuda, they meet up with Dr. Ilene Chen, whom Andrews recalled she has never formally interacted with Chen face-to-face. Dr. Chen leads Dr. Andrews away to discuss the current position of Monarch. After Trapper makes a quick introduction to the two gentlemen, the three grab a beer and talk about stories with Titans.
All of a sudden, a breach is made at one of the Hollow Earth entry points in Cuba, with two unknown Titans breaking through the surface, followed by a pair of HEAVs. The two Titans have taken up flight, soaring across the Atlantic Ocean. Godzilla, sensing a sudden danger, re-emerges from the water and chases down the two Titans across the entire Gulf of Mexico. The two HEAVs are chased by Jonah and Burr who were deployed in their AGAVs. After a brief dogfight, the duo manages to shoot one of them down; Jonah opts to stay behind and capture the men in the gunned down HEAV, while Burr chases the other one. Jonah lands, and out the door comes his father, Alan. Surprised to see him, Alan rambles on how those two Titans attacked his men too, and only a handful had managed to escape. Leland immediately straps Alan to the backseat of the AGAV, as well as three other men who still had a pulse after the crash, and immediately flew towards Bermuda.
Burr, on the other hand, was still engaging in active combat with the HEAV 10,000 ft in the air. A sudden tail swipe mid-air destroys the HEAV, and Burr pulls up in time to avoid a collision. Leland radios in, saying how those two Titans were called Destoroyah and Hedorah, and that his father had created them using Hollow Earth energy irradiation. Before Burr can ask which one was which, a giant, dark crawfish-like Titan flows over him, where his systems start to fail and malfunction. As he realizes that the glass is corroding away, he punched the eject button and safely managed to escape the carnage.
Meanwhile, in the Hollow Earth, a healthy Kong with Suko, Shimo and his great ape empire feast on a successful hunt, when suddenly, a flurry of branches grab several of the apes and drag them into the darkness. Kong signals Suko and the apes to get out of there and flee to the surface entry point, while Kong and Shimo fight the Titan off. As it emerges from the shadows, a green and enlarged Godzilla-like head attached to the body of a flower and tree roots launch plasma at the duo. While Shimo tries to freeze the Titan, and Kong ripping the Titan with his axe, it whipped the two away. A direct plasma blast to Shimo's leg handicaps her momentarily, before Kong could deflect the blasts and land a blow on its head. A relieved Kong gives Shimo a chunk of ice used for ice healing, which soothes the pain. Kong investigates the body and sees an engraving with a name on it. He stumbled to the ground, as the monster re-awakened and attacked the two. Before it could land another hit on Shimo, Kong drags her out and helps her gallop to the entry point. There, Suko and the remaining apes wait as Kong and Shimo make their way. Before they could go through the portal, the beast had followed them and is making her way through quickly. One last blast from Shimo's frost beam froze the monster's entire body, biding time for the group to escape through.
In the midst of all this, Godzilla came to shore against a red Titan that charged at him and stabbed him. The intense smoke created by the Titan was harsh enough to disoriented Godzilla, as well as dissolving several human bodies in Cancun where they were duking it out. The Titan split into two, gnarling and slashing at Godzilla from all sides. It only became worse for the King of the Monsters when the dark-skinned monster arrived at the scene, where it started to grapple onto Godzilla, dissolving and corroding his skin away. The other Titan recombined itself into one, where it unleashed a purple ray of energy, piercing a gaping hole clean through Godzilla's torso. He fell to the ground in submission, reeling in pain and roaring for help. As the two Titans were about to deal the killing blow, Mothra and Rodan showed up to distract and hinder the two Titans, with Mothra temporarily blinding them and Rodan's flame bursts from his wings dealing excruciating pain towards the two monsters. Godzilla, struggling to get up at first, took this opportunity to unleash his atomic heat ray at the two monsters, scorching the red one's arm, and making the black monster having to retreat. The red Titan, refusing to admit defeat, uses its horn to slice one more blow at the G-Man at the neck, slitting his throat. Godzilla fell to the ground once again, but the crustacean retreated to heal its wounds and its burnt arm.
Witness to this was Dr. Andrews and Trapper on cams, as well as Martin, who had managed to land in the coastal waters nearby with a gas mask. Realizing that air around him was similar in content used by the Oxygen Destroyer bomb used in 2019, Martin postulated that the Titan had been mutating for the past 11 years from the polluted waters. Leland calls him in, confirming that his father, Alan, had headed down to the Hollow Earth to a special type of energy source to irradiate and rapidly mutate the initial creature into a powerful Titan. Leland, seeing a mortally wounded Godzilla, uses a dart harpoon to inject Godzilla with anesthetics to ease the pain. Godzilla, looking into the distance, sees Rodan's volcano at Isla de Mara, and asks Rodan and Mothra to be put it in the volcano to heal. The pair oblige, where they lift up the King and fly out to the volcano. They drop him into the heart of the volcano, where he was laid to rest for the time being. Andrews react to the other cams, seeing a montage of Destoroyah and Hedorah laying waste to Salvador and Praia do Forte.
Leland interrogates his father about what had happened. Alan fesses up everything, from the names, to which Titan he had named, as well as a secret Titan within the Hollow Earth that attacked his men. Leland immediately notifies Monarch in regards to another Titan in the Hollow Earth, in which Andrews is immediately notified of a disturbance in the Hollow Earth, in which Kong emerges from a Hollow Earth entry point with Suko, an injuried Shimo, and other apes who managed to escape with their lives, but who are also injured. Dr. Chen and Jia heads over to the scene, where Jia asks Kong what had happened. In sign language, Kong explains that a giant bush had attacked him, and even signs the name of the monster "Biollante." Chen, curiously, scrolls through any of the cave paintings or hieroglyphics that match this description. When finding a match, she recalls how the Apes experimented on creating their own Titans during the Titan War in ancient times, using the DNA of Godzilla. This creation, using the megafauna of the Hollow Earth, was spliced with Godzilla's DNA and the Iwi called her Biollante. When she went rogue against her masters, the Apes locked Biollante deep underground in the Hollow Earth, but a sudden disturbance had reawakened her.
Mothra and Rodan come to the emergence of Kong and his exodus. When Kong asks for Godzilla, the two sadly nod their heads, implying that Godzilla needs time to recover after his wounds. Kong comes up with a plan, where he tells the Titans and signs it to Jia; since Godzilla feeds on radiation, Kong suggests to bring a bunch of warheads into where he is residing. Andrews, who had come up to the scene, signs back to Kong for the first time, that nuking the volcano would likely cause an earthquake on Isla de Mara, causing the island to collapse. By this, Kong fell on his knees and signed to her that it was their best shot. She obliged, with Jia excited. A surge in energy is detected in Antarctica, where another Hollow Earth entry point was breached. Biollante was here, with cams showing Destoroyah and Hedorah arriving at the scene. A shock came onto Chen, realizing that Biollante was technically an alpha, due sharing Godzilla's DNA. The team had to act fast, but before they can proceed with the nuclear plan, Leland, Martin and Trapper suddenly showed up to the scene. The former two were willing to drop the warhead onto the mouth of the volcano, while Trapper set out to quickly make Kong some lead armor for protection against the corrosive and lethal gases found emitting by the two toxic Titans.
With the plan all set into motion, Leland and Martin enter their AGAVs with a pair of armed B61s attached to each one, accompanying Kong, Mothra and Rodan. While Chen monitors the entire situation from the Castle Bravo base, Trapper and Andrews assist in quickly designing and building Kong's mechanized lead suit. While the island was being evacuated yet again, the two AGAVs prepare to drop four B61s on top of the volcano. Mothra and Rodan circle around it, as Kong watches from a distance. Within seconds of the evacuation being finished, the four warheads are dropped, and a giant mushroom cloud forms on the island. Through the fireball and ashes, a familiar silhouette appears, with bright, red eyes. Godzilla was back, but Chen notices a caveat. Godzilla's radiation levels were overwhelming to his body, with his body temperature rapidly increasing by the seconds. When Leland asks what that means, Chen claims Godzilla will melt down, implode and die, once his body temperature reaches 30,000 degrees Celsius. Godzilla sees Kong from the distance and sees that his rejuvenated self has his dorsal plates emitting red pulses of energy. In the nick of time, Trapper sends in the armor parts to attach to Kong, assembling and fitting into Kong near perfectly. With the team set in stone, Godzilla lets out a triumphant roar and swims into the ocean to chase down the now three Titans, with Kong riding Godzilla like a surfboard, and Mothra and Rodan soaring overhead as eyes. Leland and Martin assist in the assault, as this data can prove crucial to determine when Godzilla will perish, as well as studies for Monarch.
The two sides converge onto Cape Town, South Africa, where all hell breaks lose, and the two sides cause mass destruction. Godzilla's heat ray grew stronger than ever, glowing orange-red with a spiral wrapped around the beam. As Monarch actively tries to get civilians out of the crossfire, Godzilla's body began to glow heavily red, and the area around him grew enflamed and combusting with fire. Kong, with his lead armor, managed to endure through the heat and the AGAVs hd heat-resistant armor platings. Rodan was naturally able to withstand the tense heat, while Mothra retreated at safe distance, mostly helping civilians retreat. Destoroyah, Hedorah and Biollante, on the other hand, were not so lucky, as their limbs showed signs of scorching and burning. Kong managed to cut off Biollante's tentacles, as well as Destoroyah's arm. However, Hedorah tackled Kong through a building and tried to suffocate him using sulfuric gas, but Godzilla grabbed him and tossed him into the other two Titans. Godzilla had his body temperature at around 27,000 degrees Celsius at this point, was now pulsing hot nuclear pulses uncontrollably, which also stunned Kong and Rodan as well. The AGAVs began to malfunction, so the duo had to retreat from the scene. Realizing his time was up, Godzilla grabbed the three Titans away from the city to miles away from the shoreline, where his allying Titans wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. Destoroyah, who tried to fly away, was shot down by a precise blast of spiral heat ray. The other two tried to get away as well, but they were dispatched by his heat ray as well. The three Titans, barely clinging on for life, attempted one last ditch effort to suffocate Godzilla under their combined weight. Godzilla, now having hit 30,000 degrees Celsius, released one last pulse of atomic energy, resembling a fireball from a nuclear explosion. The sight blinded Kong, Leland, Martin and everything else at the scene. Once the dust settled, Godzilla was nowhere to be found. Chen could not track him.
This meant Godzilla had either vanished or had died. The AGAVs and HEAVs landed. Leland, Martin, Trapper, Andrews and Jia all saluted Godzilla, and Kong dropped his axe and pounded on his chest and roared, signaling it as a farewell for his old rival and comrade Titan. Rodan and Mothra also bowed in submission as a salute for his sacrifice. Suddenly, a head dropped from the sky, where Kong caught it mid-air; it was the head of Biollante, still awake and alive. Kong crushed her head, but not before she roared at Kong's face one last time. Kong pounded and grunted as a sign of victory.
Soon after, Kong, Shimo, Suko and the other apes made their way down to Hollow Earth, with Leland, Andrews and Jia following them to check up on them. Once they made their way back to the lair, the apes captured by Biollante were set free from her constrictive tendrils after she had been killed by Godzilla. Suddenly, Mothra pops up to Kong's lair, and telepathically signals to Jia to tell something to Kong. When Kong leans in to see what she has to say, Jia tells him that Mothra is asking if Kong would take up the position as the Alpha Titan, now that Godzilla was dead. Kong acknowledges her request and nods his head.
A post-credits scene shows Alan Jonah in the Castle Bravo solitary confinement facility, where Mark Russell wishes to talk to and interrogate him in his cell.
Main credits[]
- Directed by: Adam Wingard
- Screenplay by: Simon Barrett & Terry Rossio and Michael Dougherty & Zach Shields
- Story by: Simon Barrett & Adam Wingard and Dave Callaham
- Based on:
- Godzilla, by Toho Co. Ltd
- King Kong, by Merian C. Cooper
- Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia and Eric McLeod
- Executive producers: Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Jay Ashenfelter, Adam Wingard, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira
- Directors of photography: Robby Baumgartner
- Production design by: Tom Hammock
- Edited by: Josh Schaeffer and Louis Cioffi
- Music by: Hans Zimmer, Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio
- Visual effects supervisor: Ryan Cook
Cast[]
Jason Statham portrays Leland Jonah
Frank Grillo portrays Martin Burr
- Jason Statham as Leland Jonah, son of Alan Jonah, and a defected eco-terrorist who later became part of Monarch's Special Titan Chaser Forces
- Frank Grillo as Martin Burr, captain of Monarch's Special Titan Chaser Forces
- Rebecca Hall as Dr. Ilene Andrews, a Monarch anthropological linguist, and Jia's adoptive mother
- Dan Stevens as Trapper Beasley
- Kaylee Hottle as Jia, a young, deaf orphaned Iwi native who forms a special bond with Kong and is Ilene's adopted daughter
- Zhang Ziyi as Dr. Ilene Chen, a Monarch mythologist who forms a special bond with Mothra
- Charles Dance as Alan Jonah, former British Army SAS Colonel and MI-6 agent who became an eco-terrorist
- Toby Kebbell as King Kong, whom he previously portrayed the character through motion capture in 2017's Kong: Skull Island
- T.J. Storm as Godzilla, who portrays him through motion capture. He previously played as the character in 2014's Godzilla, 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters and 2026's Godzilla: Modern Warfare.
Kebbell and Storm would be listed in the billing block of the film's theatrical poster, making the two the second time a motion capture actor has been credited as a role in the film on the poster, after Terry Notary for Kong: Skull Island in 2017. Kyle Chandler makes a cameo appearance in the film in a post-credits scene.
Production[]
Development[]
Before the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, director Adam Wingard expressed interest in creating another film for the MonsterVerse, to conclude his trilogy of films. After the commercial success of the film, Wingard already started to outline the story with co-story writer Simon Barrett. He had listened to the criticisms of The New Empire being too "Kong-focused," and promised to give Godzilla fans a more Godzilla-centered story. Because of how the last film received lackluster reviews, Wingard expressed his interest to turn this film into a finale of the MonsterVerse. However, due to the commitments made to his film for A24, his film would be pushed back, leading to Godzilla: Modern Warfare releasing first on September 11, 2026. Production on the film would finally begin on June 2026, after an early cut of the latter film was screened and was approved for a sequel to start production.
Pre-production and writing[]
Adam Wingard, director of Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse
Before Wingard was brought back, Dave Callaham already wrote a story for Godzilla & Kong 3, where it would've been focused on Godzilla rather than Kong during this time around. The screenplay had Mothra and Rodan return from the previous film, and where Berserk would assimilate into the ground and form a biological Titan. While it went unnamed, Callaham, at G-Fest, said it was an homage to the kaiju Biollante, though he was unsure whether she'd actually make the final cut. Grant Sputore, who directed Godzilla: Modern Warfare and would later go onto direct two installments in the MonsterVerse, was attached to direct, though he dropped due to creative differences.
In the initial story that Wingard and Simon Barrett wrote, it had Destoroyah as the main villain, because upon rewatching the MonsterVerse through a marathon, they realized the Oxygen Destroyer never had a payoff in the series. Seeing a resurgence of popularity for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, they used the Oxygen Destroyer as a way to bring in Destoroyah. However, for the final chapter, Wingard wanted to include his own favorite monsters in Hedorah and Biollante. So he decided to make Biollante a product of genetic modification by the Ape Empire, as a bioweapon against Godzilla and his allies. Hedorah's origins would remain the same; he was a product of pollution and waste, this time as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened in 2010. Barrett worked out the first draft with co-writer Terry Rossio. In the midst of working on his film, Michael Dougherty co-wrote the screenplay with Zach Shields, after Rossio and Barrett finished their latest draft. In their draft, Anguirus would join the fray as Shimo's lost relative. However, they rewrote the screenplay after realizing that the film would be overpacked with too many monsters. They rewrote the final screenplay without the kaiju. Legendary managed to gain the licenses for Hedorah, Destoroyah and Biollante soon after the final screenplay was finished. Despite not making an appearance in the film, Legendary still bought the license for Anguirus, at the bequest of Wingard.
For Godzilla's presumed death, Wingard and the screenwriters made it ambiguous to the audience to create a sense of unease on whether he was still alive or not. Wingard has stated that it was due to the fact that they wanted to "subvert expectations and up the anti to this conclusive chapter." However, screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields came clean about how Toho's contract with Legendary limited their way to full go-through with an actual death scene of Godzilla melting, as drawn by storyboard artists. They took inspiration from the ending of King Kong vs. Godzilla, where Godzilla's whereabouts were also unknown. Wingard, after the film had released, had stated that this was also an executive decision made by Legendary, to bring back Godzilla in the future.
Much like the previous two films, Jared Krichevsky designed the newly realized Titans. The designs didn't differ much from their Toho counterparts, though they each featured noticeable distinctions. Hedorah had his eyes pure red, with blue blood vessels surging through his eyes, as well as a more prominent mouthpiece. Destoroyah had much larger wings, a longer snout and pronated hands which their wrists can bend, similar to the Xenomorph Queen, and unlike the original's thick and stubby hands. Biollante's head design featured her traditional tusks, but also canines at the front corners of her mouth, as well as her tentacles featuring much more curved clampers, inspired by Guzzlord from the Pokemon franchise.
The first cast members were announced on August 2026, with Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens and Kaylee Hottle setting to reprise their roles from The New Empire. Later that month, it would be announced that Zhang Ziyi and Charles Dance would reprise their roles from King of the Monsters. In mid-September 2026, Jason Statham and Frank Grillo were announced to play new roles altogether. Toby Kebbell and T.J. Storm would be announced that they would place Kong and Godzilla via motion capture.
Filming[]
Principal photography began in December 2026 and wrapped in March 2027, on a production budget of $190-215 million, making it the most expensive MonsterVerse film so far. Robby Baumgartner replaced Ben Seresin as director of photography. Much like The New Empire, director Adam Wingard shot the film in the 1.90:1 IMAX format, becoming the second film in the franchise to do so. The main on-set filming locations included Cancun, Mexico and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Most of the film was actually shot on Warner Bros. Pictures's Leavesden Studios. It was shot under the working title Apocalypse, which later became the subtitle Monster Apocalypse. While Wingard claimed it was his own idea, writer-executive producer Simon Barrett claimed that he suggested the title after he had read an English copy of the novel Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse.
At around the same time, Michael Dougherty served as second unit director for directing motion capture actors for scenes, using the screenplay, as well as notes provided by Wingard himself. Wingard stated that Dougherty was the "best man suited for this job." This was Dougherty's first credit as second unit director. He spent roughly around the same time with Toby Kebbell, T.J. Storm and a number of other motion capture actors. While Kebbell and Storm would be the only mo-cap actors credited next to the main actors, Jason Liles, Ian Whyte, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alan Tudyk acted uncredited as Rodan, Shimo, Mothra, Destoroyah and Hedorah respectively; Biollante was too massive for an actor to portray. Waller-Bridge recalled it a challenge to "play a freakin moth, when I couldn't even fly." Dougherty's usage of blue screen blocks to help her levitate in scenes ultimately paid off.
Dougherty's second unit directing session with the motion capture actors lasted from November 2026 to January 2027, with November being supervised by and co-directed with Wingard, before he went on to start production on Yamata no Orochi: The Eight-Headed Dragon.
Post-production[]
The visual effects were supervised by Ryan Cook, who was the visual effects supervisor for 2022's Prey. The companies who provided the effects were Weta FX, Moving Picture Company (MPC), DNEG and Method Studios. In total, the film had 1,550 VFX shots. The IMAX ratio made it harder for the computers to render the scenes, but Cook said that they managed to pulled it off with "a buttload of fire extinguishers and processing power."
R. Christopher White, a three-time Academy Award-nominated visual effects artist, served as visual effects supervisor for Weta FX. Weta ended up doing most of the animation for the monsters. White's experience with 2005's King Kong, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Hobbit trilogy made the task of tracking the motion capture actors and setting them to be more animalistic much easier.
| “ | Motion capture reference gives the animator a much easier time to... well.. animate. Dunno [about] this, but when the actor already gave you the motion that you want, and the team wants, and the director wants, that saves so much time and so much pain for us. | „ |
— R. Christopher White, in the behind the scenes featurette "Imagine the Titans" |
MPC still served as the primary vendor for the Titans, providing around 650 shots of the film. Method Studios and DNEG were relegated to additional animations for the monsters, as well as the CG for the vehicles used in the film. DNEG also provided what Cook called "the most challenging scene to animate," which was Kong and Shimo vs. Biollante, since it had no reference of motion capture for this scene and each of Biollante's tentacles had to be animated by hand.
Music[]
Like the last film, Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio served as composers for the film. This time, Hans Zimmer would join them for this film. While the duo of Holkenborg and Di Iorio managed the scores for Godzilla, Kong, Shimo, Suko and the other great apes, Zimmer provided the themes for the villainous Titans. Upon listening to the original's themes, he realized that, while Destoroyah's theme by Akira Ifukube could work, Biollante's rock-happy and Hedorah's bright-trumpet noises would not help sell the threat of these Titans. He discarded the themes, whilst keeping Destoroyah as a basis, and reinvented into entirely new themes.
Marketing[]
The film's marketing budget was $100 million. Billed as "Godzilla and Kong's deadliest battle," fans online speculated whether this was played out as a finale for the MonsterVerse. After filming had completed, Wingard, Statham, Grillo, Storm and Kebbell all made appearances at 2027 San Diego Comic-Con. A full trailer was released on Warner Bros. Pictures's YouTube channel on November 6, 2027, with the second one releasing in February 27, 2028.
Release[]
Theatrical[]
Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse premiered at the Centro Cultural Luiz Severiano Ribeiro, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 15, 2028, before releasing worldwide on May 19 in IMAX, 3D, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, 4DX, and ScreenX. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures except for Japan, where the film was distributed by Toho Co. Ltd instead.
Home media[]
The film released on Digital HD on August 3, 2028 and released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on August 24, 2028. The 4K release includes HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision high dynamic range, and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse grossed $213.4 million at the domestic box office and $420.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $634.3 million. This would mark the film as the highest-grossing film of the MonsterVerse, the highest-grossing in the Godzilla franchise for two years (until 2030's Top Gun: Godzilla S.O.S.), the highest-grossing in the King Kong franchise, and the sixth-highest grossing film of 2028.
Domestically, the film was projected to gross $55-70 million in its opening weekend. It grossed $88.7 million in its opening weekend, beating Worlds Apart for the first place spot. Worldwide, the film grossed $193.6 million. Roughly $16 million came from IMAX sales, the biggest in both franchises thus far. Its second weekend saw it drop by 59%, grossing $36.4 million, retaining the number one spot. By this time, it had grossed $129.5 million, beating out the entire domestic gross of 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters and 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong. The film grossed $25.6 million in its third weekend, and $16 million on its fourth, being second place to the newly released Armor Wars in both weekends. By the end, the film grossed $213.4 million, the highest of the MonsterVerse.
Deadline Hollywood reported the film made $112.3 million in net profit, after factoring all expenses and revenues.
Critical reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 408 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse makes giant monsters run rampant on screen, with the wasted likes of Jason Statham leading the cast in an entertaining way that may leave more to be desired." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100 based on 58 critics indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 92% and a 76% "definite recommend."
Accolades[]
| Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101st Academy Awards | Best Visual Effects | Ryan Cook, R. Christopher White, Sean Konrad and Mike Meinardus | Nominated |
| 33rd Satellite Awards | Best Visual Effects | Won | |
| 28th Visual Effects Society Awards | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | Ryan Cook, Kevin Andrew Smith, R. Christopher White, Sean Konrad and Mike Meinardus | Nominated |
| Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature | Richard Spriggs, Ricardo Silva, Lucas Cuenca and Federico Frassinelli - Biollante | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature | Steve Ellis, Steve Hardy, Thomas Dohlen and John Seru - Biollante's Lair | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project | Daniel Fotheringham, Krzysztof Szczepanski, Steven Tom and Eric Petey | Nominated | |
| 56th Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse | Nominated |
| Best Editing | Josh Schaeffer and Louis Cioffi | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects | Ryan Cook, R. Christopher White, Sean Konrad and Mike Meinardus | Won | |
| 34th Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Visual Effects | Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse | Nominated |
| 9th Critics' Choice Super Awards | Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in an Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie | Jason Statham | Nominated | |
| 28th Golden Schmoes Awards | Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year | Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse | Nominated |
| Best Special Effects of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Best Action Sequence of the Year | Godzilla, Kong, Mothra and Rodan vs. Biollante, Destoroyah and Hedorah | Won | |
| 27th Hollywood Professional Association Awards | Outstanding Visual Effects – Feature Film | Ryan Cook, R. Christopher White, Sean Konrad, Ludovic Chailloleau, Spencer Cook and Mike Meinardus | Nominated |
| 29th Australian Effects & Animation Festival | Feature Film – VFX | MPC FIlm | Silver |
| Feature Film – Sequence | DNEG - Kong and Shimo vs. Biollante | Gold | |
| 52nd Japan Academy Film Prize | Best Foreign Language Film | Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse | Nominated |
| 54th People's Choice Awards | The Action Movie of the Year | Nominated | |
| The Male Movie Star of the Year | Jason Statham | Nominated | |
| The Action Movie Star of the Year | Nominated |
Sequels[]
- Main article: Mothra x Kong: Dawn of Extinction
A meta film for the MonsterVerse to 2014's Godzilla, titled Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla, would be released on March 21, 2029. The mainline MonsterVerse would continue on, as a follow-up, titled Mothra x Kong: Dawn of Extinction, was released on September 13, 2030. Godzilla's next appearance would not be until Godzilla: Return of the King, which would be released on December 16, 2033.
Trivia[]
- With six Titans based off of Toho kaiju, Monster Apocalypse marks the highest number of Toho kaiju featured in a Hollywood adaptation.