Godzilla 2is finally shooting this summer after several years of impatient waiting. Gareth Edwards' 2014Godzilladivided fans, but it was successful at the box office and revived the franchise. It looks like director Mike Dougherty, who is taking over for the next installment, is looking to make some fans of the old-schoolGodzillamovies very happy. How, you may ask? Well, he is going to include some practical monster effects inGodzilla: King of Monsters.
Mike Dougherty took to hisTwitterrecently to answer some fan questions about theupcoming Godzilla sequel. Today, a fan asked with only a glimmer of hope if he was planning on including any practical monster effects inGodzilla 2. Dougherty didn’t give a long-winded response, but he simply said, “yes.” That is more than enough because now we know we will get to see some actual, physical creatures inGodzilla: King of Monsters, which will already give it a leg up on 2014’sGodzilla.
A couple days ago, Mike Dougherty was also asked if the listing on IMDB that names Tom Woodruff Jr. to be working on the movie is legitimate. The director also confirmed that this is indeed true, which ties into the practical monster effects. For those who may not recognize the name, Tom Woodruff Jr. has a big history inmonster movies, having playedPumpkinheadand a Xenomorph in some of theAlienmovies. Behind-the-scenes, he has worked on practical effects on classics likePredatorandTremors. So he has a great resume for this kind of thing, which should help bring theclassic monstersinGodzilla 2to life in a big, fantastic way.
It wasn’t made clear exactly how many of the effects in thenew Godzilla moviewill be practical, but there is plenty to work with. It is expected that Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah will all be making appearances in the movie as well, so there are several monsters that could receive the practical treatment. Spoilers forKong: Skull Island. During a post-credit scene in that movie, which is part of the same universe as the newGodzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah were all teased. The monsters were all previously announced for the movie during Comic-Con 2014, and this all but confirmed that they will definitely be showing up inGodzilla 2, which is set to arrive on July 06, 2025. They will be bridging the gap until the King vs. King match on July 01, 2025, whenGodzilla Vs. Kongcomes out.
Legendary Pictures has been pretty successful with their MonsterVerse so far, withGodzillakicking things off in 2014. That movie brought in a solid $529 million worldwide, butKong: Skull Islandmanaged to best that, grossing $565 million this year. AssumingGodzilla: King of the Monsterscan deliver the goods, and what we’re hearing makes us think it will, that could mean thatGodzilla Vs. Kongwill be a monster hit for the studio in a few years. Maybe that means we’ll get to see some practical monsters in that movie as well? We’ll have to see how it goes inGodzilla 2.
