One could argue no project announcement at this weekend's Comic-Con carried the buzz of Legendary's Skull Island. Legendary's surprise trailer and revelation that this was their big mystery project threw the industry for a loop. The King Kong prequel/spinoff/whatever is now gearing up soon for a 2016 release, which suggests that they already have someone in mind to make it. And wouldn't you know it, that someone big just might be Joe Cornish.
Deadline reports that Legendary has offered the Skull Island directing gig to Joe Cornish. This would be Cornish's first big film, as he's only directed once before. He was the man behind the absolutely brilliant Attack The Block, the Edgar Wright-produced aliens-in-the-slums actioner that revealed Cornish to be a student of John Carpenter and Walter Hill. Cornish, who recently co-wrote Ant-Man with Wright, has been seeking his studio debut for a while now, having turned down A Good Day To Die Hard and Star Trek 3 while trying to get an adaptation of Snow Crash and the spy thriller Section Six off the ground.
There's a script that Legendary commissioned in-house, hiring Max Borenstein (Godzilla), though it wouldn't be surprised if Cornish was given the chance to do a bit of a touch-up - that is, should he take the opportunity. Cornish has been reluctant to dip his toe into the studio world, and he's probably got to be dealing with the same awkward aftermath of the Ant-Man fiasco that Edgar Wright has. In addition, Cornish, a former satirist from the UK who also co-wrote The Adventures Of Tintin with Wright, has got to be facing immense pressure, as he'll be following up Peter Jackson's flawed-but-memorable King Kong. That movie was so long that the Skull Island sections could probably be lifted and edited into their own (actually quite entertaining) film, so Cornish would be following in the footsteps of giants. Unless of course, as rumored, the gig falls to genre vet Neil Marshall, who has been rumored for the job in many circles. But they've got to get Cornish – maybe he can pen a little ditty for King Kong, just as he did for James Bond.
Skull Island is slated for November 4th, 2016, where it will open up against the children's film Trolls, and just one week before The Sinister Six. Cornish just might decamp for Section Six soon, so if this doesn't come to fruition, Legendary will have only a few months to find a worthy replacement.
