Legendary’s “MonsterVerse” is about to get some competition.
Toho, the original studio behind Godzilla, has revealed it has plans to produce a new slate of films based on their iconic roster of kaiju, and centered around the concept of shared universe storytelling. In an interview with Nikkei Style (via Bloody Disgusting), Keiji Ota, Toho’s Head of Film, specifically cited Marvel’s approach as a point of inspiration:
“After 2021, we’re thinking of a potential strategy that [releases] Godzilla movies uninterrupted at a rate of every 2 years, although there is a preference for a yearly pace as well. The future of the series and its forwarding developments are very conscious of the method of “shared universe”. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, etc. could all share a single world view much like a Marvel movie where Iron Man and the Hulk can crossover with each other.”
Unfortunately, that does sound like Toho has scrapped plans for a Shin Godzilla sequel. Shin Godzilla was a huge hit, and a great breath of fresh air for the series, but more than likely, it just didn’t serve as a great foundation for a shared universe.
“Shin Godzilla was a huge hit, but instead of thinking of doing the obvious idea of making a Shin Godzilla 2, instead think about a world that can be used for a long time,” Ota said. “I’d rather make a World of Godzilla.”
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how two separate Godzilla-centric franchises are going to co-exist. Legendary’s has a big head start in any case.
Toho’s current deal with Legendary means they can’t begin work on their own Godzilla franchise until 2021. In the meantime, Godzilla and Kong are both in the books, and next year, Legendary will be adding Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah to the mix in Godzilla: King of Monsters. In 2020, all of that will come together in a sort of kaiju-avengers moment, with Godzilla vs. Kong.
