How does one top something like Godzilla? The epic reboot about the famed Toho movie monster blew us out of the water, with the titular beast battling against two other gargantuan threats. According to writer Max Borenstein, this can be topped with Godzilla 2.
Speaking with Collider during the TCA events for Minority Report, Borenstein was expectedly vague about the sequel, but he did hype it up. He said:
I don’t want to go off book and tell you anything that I’m not allowed to tell you. The response to the first film was really exciting, but now that that world is established, we can do bigger and even better things. We’re really stoked.
"Bigger"? "Better"? Does this mean bigger and better monsters for Godzilla to face? Before Godzilla dove back to its deep-sea hideout, humanity came to the realization that this monster is Mother Nature’s guardian, who emerges when nature is out of balance. Hopefully the sequel — and any subsequent follow-up that may or may not arise following Godzilla 2 — doesn’t fall into this pattern of humanity being under attack from a monster, Godzilla arises, Godzilla destroys, and Godzilla goes home until next time. That would make for a dull franchise, and we can only hope Borenstein and co. have something special up their sleeves. That said, what would cause Godzilla to rise again?
It’s difficult to say, but there are a number of classic Godzilla beasts we would like to see make appearances. For example, Mothra, the three-headed Ghidorah and, dare we say, Mechagodzilla? In keeping with this line of wild speculation, there’s also the Skull Island movie to consider. Legendary is the studio behind Godzilla, and it announced Kong: Skull Island during last year’s San Diego Comic-Con. King Kong lives on Skull Island, and the giant gorilla did do battle against Godzilla in the movie (with the straightforward title) King Kong vs. Godzilla. Fans began speculating about a potential crossover with these two properties, so it’ll be interesting to see just how "big" and how much "better" Borenstein is talking about.
Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla opened in May of last year and starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe. Not everyone made it out alive, but Godzilla 2 doesn’t automatically mean any of these characters have to come back. It seems like Watanabe’s Dr. Daisuke Serizawa might return, given the character’s interest in the beast. As for Johnson, he said "your guess is as good as mine" when he was asked whether his character, Ford, would come back.
Godzilla 2 is currently set for release on June 8, 2018, with Edwards directing once again and Borenstein penning the screenplay.
