Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) - Part 1

[Loden Greatstorm]

I'll say it right now, a $45 million opening weekend would be a flop for this film. It would not bode well for the future of this series and Kong vs. Godzilla.

Waiting five years to make the sequel was idiotic. They should not have waited that long. It was downright moronic. It hurt Star Trek as well because they burned out a lot of the momentum.

I wholeheartedly agree with that.

 

[TheFuture]

Things may pick up, but Gavin isn't sold.

Ah well....at least Kong v Godzilla is guaranteed. Doesn't really matter to me beyond that.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I’d be curious to see what would happen if GvK does end up making bank. I really get the sense that these three films are it as far as Godzilla goes for Legendary potentially because of some Toho deal, but I wonder if a success means they’d continue on with Kong.

 

[MadVillainy]

In no way, shape or form is 45 million a “flop”.
I don’t care how you go about it.

Let’s see how much it makes in its box office run before “studios should be worried”

Your fear mongering is pathetic. It really is.

I never said it was a flop.
What is with you? You need to relax. You're putting words in my mouth and lashing out.
Calm down. It's just a movie.

I'm not fear mongering. I'm stating a fact. 45 mill domestic isn't good for this movie. Especially when you consider that it cost more than Godzilla 2014 and opening weekend it grossed a good amount less.
The studio for sure is worried. Movies make most of their weekend money on opening weekend. That is a fact. Every subsequent weekend films gross less. unless you have a really special and big film.
So unless this movie has incredible legs, which many doubt it will, it's not going to make a lot of money. And as others have pointed out, these movies have been in a downward trend domestically.

As DarthSkywalker said, you are not understanding how box office works. And I don't know if that's just because you don't know or because you're letting your fanboyism get in the way. Listen, I like plenty of movies that don't do well at the box office. I really enjoyed Alita this year. In 2016 The Nice Guys was my favorite movie that year. Neither performed well. And you could tell by the opening weekend. And that sucks to see and hear, but it is what it is. I didn't turn my nose up in denial. You accept that it is what it is and enjoy the movie you have. Especially in this movie's case where you already have a sequel filmed and coming out

Again, relax. It's not a big deal.

I thought this film was a lot better than Kong Skull Island, which was way too campy and silly for my tastes.

Also it's strange, even Kong Skull Island is certified fresh at 75 percent.

I think Skull Island was the best movie in this by far. And I think it also gave people more of what they want in terms of action.

I'll say it right now, a $45 million opening weekend would be a flop for this film. It would not bode well for the future of this series and Kong vs. Godzilla.

Waiting five years to make the sequel was idiotic. They should not have waited that long. It was downright moronic. It hurt Star Trek as well because they burned out a lot of the momentum.

Star Trek was exactly the example I was thinking of when I said the same thing a few pages back. The 4 year wait between Star Trek 09 and STID killed the momentum. At least domestically

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

I never said it was a flop.
What is with you? You need to relax. You're putting words in my mouth and lashing out.
Calm down. It's just a movie.

I'm not fear mongering. I'm stating a fact. 45 mill domestic isn't good for this movie. Especially when you consider that it cost more than Godzilla 2014 and opening weekend it grossed a good amount less.
The studio for sure is worried. Movies make most of their weekend money on opening weekend. That is a fact. Every subsequent weekend films gross less. unless you have a really special and big film.
So unless this movie has incredible legs, which many doubt it will, it's not going to make a lot of money. And as others have pointed out, these movies have been in a downward trend domestically.

As DarthSkywalker said, you are not understanding how box office works. And I don't know if that's just because you don't know or because you're letting your fanboyism get in the way. Listen, I like plenty of movies that don't do well at the box office. I really enjoyed Alita this year. In 2016 The Nice Guys was my favorite movie that year. Neither performed well. And you could tell by the opening weekend. And that sucks to see and hear, but it is what it is. I didn't turn my nose up in denial. You accept that it is what it is and enjoy the movie you have. Especially in this movie's case where you already have a sequel filmed and coming out

Again, relax. It's not a big deal.


I think Skull Island was the best movie in this by far. And I think it also gave people more of what they want in terms of action.

I understand where you are coming from and you make strong valid points. I personally didn't like the movie that much but I'm hoping its a success. I want to see more movies in the Monsterverse.

 

[TheFuture]

I’d be curious to see what would happen if GvK does end up making bank. I really get the sense that these three films are it as far as Godzilla goes for Legendary potentially because of some Toho deal, but I wonder if a success means they’d continue on with Kong.

I don't really know much about either character to say if they can keep going but to me 3 films featuring Godzilla is more than reasonable. When the main character is non speaking there's only so much you can do.

 

[MadVillainy]

I don't really know much about either character to say if they can keep going but to me 3 films featuring Godzilla is more than reasonable. When the main character is non speaking there's only so much you can do.

And that's why you need good human characters. Characters with some personality, with a good story. Godzilla or whoever might be the title character, but you're going to spend more time with the human characters and when they're boring...then more likely than not your movie is going to be annoying.
Think about superhero movies. Batman, Iron Man, Hulk, etc. You may show up to see the heroes suited up and in action, but you're probably going to spend more time with them out of costume. So you still have to make the out of costume stuff interesting.

 

[Zantera]

I think what surprises me the most is how little they took the complaints of Godzilla 2014 to heart. Sure we get maybe a few minutes more of monsters on screen but the human characters and story is even worse this time around.

 

[samsnee]

In no way, shape or form is 45 million a “flop”.
I don’t care how you go about it.

Let’s see how much it makes in its box office run before “studios should be worried”

Your fear mongering is pathetic. It really is.

It’s a flop when you consider the budget, the competition the next few weeks, and the multiplier for these kinds of movies. Maybe you should do some research before responding.

 

[terry78]

I feel like the GvK flick will.draw attention just due to the entire concept of two antiheroic monsters clashing. These are both icons in their own right and I think people will actually have some investment.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I agree. Kong himself is enough to draw a sizeable crowd. Skull Island was maybe not beloved, but was really well liked.

 

[samsnee]

I agree. I think GvK will do much better just on the name alone.

 

[MadVillainy]

I mean if people didn't really show up for Godzilla and they didn't really show up for Kong. I don't think people will make it to the theater to see both of them. Or at least I wouldn't be surprised if they don't. I just don't think this franchise will be a huge hit. Especially after they started on shaky footing. I've liked all the films to some degree, but I think there might be ceiling for all these types of giant robot or kaiju movies.

Then again people didn't show up for JL but they showed up for Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

EDIT: And I see now this is opening 1 week after a Pixar film 2 weeks before a Disney Live action remake of Mulan, and 1 week before A Quiet Place 2. I mean I don't think A Quiet Place 2 will be that much trouble but Onward and Mulan for sure will

 

[Roose Bolton]

I don't really know much about either character to say if they can keep going but to me 3 films featuring Godzilla is more than reasonable. When the main character is non speaking there's only so much you can do.

Well I think Kong to some extent is limited because most of his cinematic lifetime has essentially been remakes of the 1933 film, but there’s more films featuring Godzilla than there is of James Bond. And like Bond, some of them are formulaic, some are weird as ****. They can go places if they have the imagination.

 

[TheFuture]

Well I think Kong to some extent is limited because most of his cinematic lifetime has essentially been remakes of the 1933 film, but there’s more films featuring Godzilla than there is of James Bond. And like Bond, some of them are formulaic, some are weird as ****. They can go places if they have the imagination.

I hope you're right. Btw have to say shot when Mothra is crawling upon a fallen Godzilla was just beautiful. Absolutely loved Mothra in this film so very much hope the franchise has legs so I can see her again.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I was cautious when I heard about her inclusion back when, but they captured the charm and fantasy elements of the character really well in this iteration. If they ever figure out how to make these movies cost effective I’d love to see them do a spin-off series.

 

[I Am The Knight]

It’s a flop when you consider the budget, the competition the next few weeks, and the multiplier for these kinds of movies. Maybe you should do some research before responding.

Well, VisionsVision has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer

 

[TheFuture]

I was cautious when I heard about her inclusion back when, but they captured the charm and fantasy elements of the character really well in this iteration. If they ever figure out how to make these movies cost effective I’d love to see them do a spin-off series.

What did you think about Rodan.

 

[redhawk23]

I mean if people didn't really show up for Godzilla and they didn't really show up for Kong. I don't think people will make it to the theater to see both of them. Or at least I wouldn't be surprised if they don't. I just don't think this franchise will be a huge hit. Especially after they started on shaky footing. I've liked all the films to some degree, but I think there might be ceiling for all these types of giant robot or kaiju movies.

Then again people didn't show up for JL but they showed up for Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

EDIT: And I see now this is opening 1 week after a Pixar film 2 weeks before a Disney Live action remake of Mulan, and 1 week before A Quiet Place 2. I mean I don't think A Quiet Place 2 will be that much trouble but Onward and Mulan for sure will

I would definitely say there a ceiling and while the subject seems to almost require a massive budget, they maybe don't really justify being made on that level. Even adding hihr stars like the Rock hard seems to help. There's just a certain level of business that they tend to do.

 

[Joefixit]

We need to stop treating monster films differently.
There are plenty of movies that are able to balance their set pieces and their characters. That's what these filmmakers need to do.
I think I'm in the minority, but I thought Kong Skull Island did it well for the most part. I loved the whole Captain Ahab thing with Samuel L Jackson's characters and I liked the platoon of soldiers.
What I didn't like were Hiddelston, Brie Larson, and John C Reily (he gave a good performance but he really felt like he was in a completely different movie)


Again it's not that difficult for filmmakers to do. It's not impossible. The monsters are action set pieces. Or at least they should be treated that way. That's all they're there for, to fight. So treat them as such. Plenty of movies have great action set pieces, but still have good characters. They're not mutually exclusive. And I don't get why these monster or giant robot movies are being graded on a curve.


Don't delude yourself 48 mill for a domestic haul opening weekend isn't good for a 170-200 million dollar movie.

Kong Skull island was a good film, as a Kong fan I would say it was a great film. Action adventure film. I also thought Kong 05 was a great film that payed homage to the original.

I felt like Kotm did this in that it stayed true to everything that was Godzilla, had tones of Easter eggs and even used classic Godzilla music albeit some remixed. The biggest complaint about the battles I hear is that they were shot to close up and not scaled to see the actual fight. Part of this is due to the director trying to get close ups of Godzilla’s facial expressions to make him more relatable. That’s the one thing Kong has on him is that he is more human like and able to express himself without saying a word. It has held true in every Kong movie from 33-17. That is what makes him a 3 dimensional character and not just some mindless monster. He’s able to express a full range of emotions.

So I get what was going on in this movie and understand what the director was trying to do with the close ups, but understand the argument some are making in that the battles were to close up. I liked the movie and actually felt like it’s the best iteration of Godzilla we have had in U.S. theaters. It tried to make him a character and not just some force of nature.

 

[Roose Bolton]

What did you think about Rodan.

I think it’s by far the most terrifying version of Rodan done, and his scenes worked pretty well in the sense that they gave him a lot of action and spectacle...but I also liked the little twist of him at the end of the film with his final interaction Godzilla.

That’s really the best thing I can say about this film. You get a space dragon, a giant moth and a prehistoric bird monster and somehow they’re given a fairly deep sense of character that I think probably could have been absent in the hands of a director who didn’t understand that they’re meant to be sentient beings.

It occurred to me, King Ghidorah in this film got perhaps a fifth of the screentime that Drogon got across multiple seasons of Game of Thrones and yet Ghidorah seemed to have more personality.

 

[Joefixit]

No reason to think otherwise at this point.

People keep forgetting that Kong has a fan base that’s totally separate from Godzilla. He always seems to squeeze out a profit due to it. So I would suppose that both Godzilla and Kong fans will go out to see it and it will be fine. Again this is the two biggest movie monsters of all time. It should turn a profit.

 

[TheFuture]

I think it’s by far the most terrifying version of Rodan done, and his scenes worked pretty well in the sense that they gave him a lot of action and spectacle...but I also liked the little twist of him at the end of the film with his final interaction Godzilla.

That’s really the best thing I can say about this film. You get a space dragon, a giant moth and a prehistoric bird monster and somehow they’re given a fairly deep sense of character that I think probably could have been absent in the hands of a director who didn’t understand that they’re meant to be sentient beings.

It occurred to me, King Ghidorah in this film got perhaps a fifth of the screentime that Drogon got across multiple seasons of Game of Thrones and yet Ghidorah seemed to have more personality.

Well I loved the personality they gave to all of the monsters bar maybe Rodan. Ghidorah flapping his wings as if to say come at me bro got me giddy.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

It’s a flop when you consider the budget, the competition the next few weeks, and the multiplier for these kinds of movies. Maybe you should do some research before responding.

How on earth I saw this post baffles me as you are on my ignore list for good reason.

Hellboy is a flop. 45-50 million is NOT a flop. Let’s see what it makes during its box office run before we label it a flop shall we.

 

[Lighthouse]

49 million isn't a great opening, but it hardly matters since Godzilla vs. Kong is already shot. But, it is Warner Bros and they have a tendency to be reactionary. Worst case scenario is they panic and decide to reshoot GvsK.