Warner Bros. has pushed the release date of Godzilla vs. Kong back by one week. The epic crossover pits the two titans together and will arrive in theaters and HBO Max on the same day. The film is directed by Adam Wingard and is the fourth film in Legendary Pictures Monsterverse.
Godzilla vs. Kong is the first time that the two title monsters have shared the screen since the 1962 film, King Kong vs. Godzilla, yet this new film is an entirely original story and not a remake. The fight between the two characters has been teased in the after-credit moment of Kong: Skull Island and sprinkled throughout Godzilla: King of the Monsters. While Godzilla: King of the Monsters underperformed at the box-office, anticipation for the sequel is high as it garnered the biggest trailer debut for Warner Bros.
Now, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have moved the release date for Godzilla vs. Kong back to March 31, 2021. No word was given why the release date was pushed back by a week. However, the delay now means Godzilla vs. Kong will be available to the public across the Easter holiday weekend.
While this delay is only five days, it is one of many in a long line of release date changes for Godzilla vs. Kong. Originally planned as a May 2020 release, the film was bumped up to March 13, 2020, where it would open less than a year after Godzilla: King of the Monsters. After the financial disappointment of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the studio opted to delay the film back to November 20, 2020, to afford the film some additional reshoots. As the COVID-19 pandemic continued and theaters remained closed, the film was pushed back to May 21, 2021. The film was announced as part of the plan to release all of Warner Bros. 2021 slate day and date in theaters on HBO Max, which got Legendary Pictures to take legal action. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures settled, and the film was then given the former March 26, 2021 release date.
Speculation now ramps up to why Warner Bros. delayed the release. One explanation might be that the March 26, 2021 release date was assumed to go to the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. March 26 is five years plus one day to the release of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and the four-year anniversary of the original Justice League trailer before Snyder departed the project. With confirmation that Zack Snyder's Justice League will now be released as a four-hour film instead of a four-part mini-series, the HBO Max schedule needed to be spread out a bit more. Warner Bros. could now have Zack Snyder’s Justice League released on an anniversary, with another major motion film just a week after, with Godzilla vs. Kong releasing on a holiday weekend that families can go see in theaters or watch at home.
Source: Warner Bros.
