Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire!
As the franchise remains at the height of its popularity, Screen Rant‘s own Pitch Meeting series is setting its sights on Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The latest installment of the Monsterverse saw the titular Titans discovering a new foe deep in Hollow Earth known as Skar King, another giant ape who is in control of the ice-powered Shimo and looks to conquer the surface. Helmed by Godzilla vs. Kong‘s Adam Wingard, the movie has garnered mixed reviews from critics, but is already a box office hit.
A few weeks after the movie first hit theaters, the latest episode of Screen Rant‘s Pitch Meeting series is taking a look at Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The video, as seen at the top of this article, poked fun at some of the absurdities of the new Monsterverse movie’s plot, namely the introduction of Kong’s metallic arm and the human team sent down to Hollow Earth to support him. The episode also humorously acknowledges Godzilla’s minimal screentime in the movie, a point some critics have noted in their mixed reviews.
With five released movies and one TV show under its belt, the Monsterverse has undergone various shifts in tone across its releases, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the franchise at its peak absurdity. Gareth Edwards’ franchise-starting 2014 Godzilla movie was memorable for its very dramatic, character-driven focus. Though this was a point of criticism for some, for others, it was a promising sign that an American-produced incarnation of the iconic kaiju could be more than the critically maligned 1998 movie.
The Monsterverse’s tonal shift began with its subsequent installments, with 2017’s Kong: Skull Island keeping things lighter with its bright color palette and humor, while 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivered more of the monster-on-monster fighting many audiences wanted to see. 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong continued this more self-aware approach with its knowingly absurd premise, which proved to work well with critics and audiences. See how the Monsterverse’s Rotten Tomatoes scores have favored since making this tonal shift below:
While it might not have continued the positive critical trend of its previous two installments, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has nonetheless shown the Monsterverse to be finding the perfect footing for audiences. The movie not only has one of the highest audience scores for the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, but is already racking up an impressive box office haul, having grossed over $380 million worldwide at the time of writing against its reported $150 million production budget. With plenty of time for it to grow in theaters, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire‘s box office could become the Monsterverse’s highest-grossing yet.
Source: Pitch Meeting