In 2010 Hollywood took another crack at localizing one of Japan’s most enduring movie franchises, in a film starring the most popular kaiju, or monster, on that side of the Pacific: Godzilla. Despite a certain amount of apprehension owing to the rather base-breaking reception of the first Hollywood “Godzilla” film released in 1995, this new production which premiered in 2014 gathered a more positive reaction and box office dominance. It got to the point that Toho, the Japanese studio that owns original Godzilla, was impressed by the new stateside take on their property that they were inspired to reboot their franchise, a decision that led to even more success.
Back in the US, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. are gearing up to finally unleash a sequel to their “Godzilla,” a new installment in their planned “Monster-Verse” mega-franchise, and they’ve got some casting done too.
TV stars to the fore
The first interesting thing to be observed in Legendary Pictures’ cast choices for “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is the fact that they’re regulars from television programming. For instance, there’s British actress Millie Bobby Brown, who really broke out in Netflix’s series “Stranger Things” as Jane “Eleven” Ives. In addition to her Kyle Chandler, from another Netflix series, “Bloodlines” but more recently in the award-bait blockbuster film “Manchester by the Sea”, who will be playing as a scientist and the father of Brown’s character, both of them as yet unnamed.
There’s not much detail given about the plot, other than that Chandler’s character could be the film’s hero or at least a primary character, and that a South Pacific island figures out into the storyline. Chandler has been a multiple Emmy Award nominee and one-time winner, most of his accolades coming from his role on the 2006 NBC series “Friday Night Lights” as Coach Eric Taylor.
His role on “Manchester by the Sea” has him co-starring with Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck. Sources have it that he turned down other feature film offers to go for the “Godzilla” sequel, for which he signed a seven-figure deal.
Building on a solid foundation
The 2014 “Godzilla” by Legendary, directed by Gareth Edwards, managed a global earning of $529.1 million.
The sequel, which will come after “Kong: Skull Island” this March, will be directed by Michael Dougherty with a script by him and Zach Shields. “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is gunning for a release on March 22, 2019.
