We’re living in a Godzilla renaissance at the moment, with everyone’s favorite lizard showing up on Apple TV+ and a very buzzy new movie out of Japan, and in case you ever needed a very clear example of the different ways that Japanese filmmakers and western filmmakers treat the big guy, just compare this trailer for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire with literally anything from Godzilla Minus One. The latter is a movie that uses Godzilla to say something, the former appears to be a movie about Godzilla and King Kong teaming up to fight an evil ape who lives in the secret world that exists inside our planet. Also, this trailer opens with a line about how people thought life could only exist on the surface of the Earth, which is nonsense. What about worms? They live underground.
Anyway, Godzilla Vs. Kong ended in a wild way, with humanity discovering that our world is hollow and that big apes like Kong came from inside the hollow planet, so the sequel was obviously going to have to get wild as well. So what happens in this trailer? Well, Godzilla evolves to a new form that’s very pink (Hi Barbie!), Kong adopts a baby kong, and also Kong gets some kind of mecha arm. It looks wacky, but it could also be fun. It’s certainly going to be rad when Godzilla and Kong start bashing the shit out of this evil ape (who is apparently called Skar King).
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire comes from director Adam Wingard and stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dan Stevens. It’ll be in theaters on April 12, 2024. (Now, how do you pronounce the X in the title? “Cross”? “Ecks”? Is it silent, like Spy X Family?)