Godzilla has starred in numerous Japanese movies over the decades, but when it comes to American productions, it turns out the second time was the charm. 16 years after the Matthew Broderick-led Godzilla movie failed to impress, the reboot starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen (among others) was a critical and commercial success. While Godzilla 2 is an important project for Warner Bros and Legendary Picture, it's taken a little longer to get off the ground. Fortunately for fans of the monster, the sequel has finally hired its writers: the duo that penned the 2015 Christmas horror flick Krampus.
It was reported earlier today that Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields have been tapped to write Godzilla 2, succeeding the first movie's scribe, Max Borenstein. This will be their second feature together at Legendary, the first being Krampus, which they worked on with Todd Casey. Variety also dropped the news that Legendary may also be planning to create a writers room to craft its Godzilla/Kong cinematic universe. Right now, Dougherty and Shields only have to worry about Godzilla 2, but if all goes well, this "room" of talent may become a reality.
Michael Dougherty's other writing credits include Superman Returns, Trick 'r Treat (and its upcoming sequel) and X-Men: Apocalypse, while Zach Shields wrote and produced the short Craggio. Their combined experience with established properties and horror will ideally be a good fit for Godzilla's next movie, blending blockbuster action with thrills. As for the writers room idea, it appears that is becoming a popular approach for newly-created cinematic universes to spark some ideas and decide where to go. The Transformers and Hasbro movie franchises also created their own writers rooms within the last year, although it will be a while until those results are implemented.
Hiring Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields is a step in the right direction for Godzilla 2 following several setbacks. The sequel was originally intended to be released in summer 2018, but it was later pushed back to spring 2019 after Godzilla vs. Kong was assigned its May 29, 2020 release date. Director Gareth Edwards was also originally planning to return for Godzilla 2, but he departed back in May so he could focus on smaller projects. A replacement director hasn't been hired yet, and there's been no word yet on who will star in the movie. No plot details have been revealed yet, although since Legendary has acquired other monsters from the Toho brand, it's possible that Godzilla might fight another one of those creatures, like Mothra.
Godzilla 2 will rampage across theaters on March 22, 2019, but moviegoers can revisit the cinematic universe the beast resides in when Kong: Skull Island is released on March 10, 2017.
