In today’s time, movies are less standalone and more franchise dependent. Whether it is the DCU, MCU, Star Wars, Star Trek, or James Bond, it’s like audiences connect more with stories and characters they already know. But with the superhero fatigue setting in, comic book movies are having a hard time maintaining the success they have had over the past decade or so.
And making use of this lull in the superhero genre, MonsterVerse director, Adam Wingard, is aiming to change the movie landscape. MonsterVerse movies, though a franchise in its own right, does not follow a definite timeline. This seems like an exciting opportunity for the director to make a mark.
Adam Wingard Is Aiming To Make Use of The Marvel Lull
Adam Wingard joined the MonsterVerse to helm the movies in the franchise in 2017, with Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) being his first directorial. Currently, he is gearing up for his upcoming release, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which is set to release later this month. Wingard is trying to take advantage of the superhero fatigue that has set in among the audiences after multiple projects being released by Marvel in a short amount of time. Talking to the Press Trust of India, he said:
“This was 2017 when I first started this whole journey. So, the cinematic landscape is just so different now and it is interesting because Marvel has kind of, at least to a certain degree, run its course in terms of its popularity, as big as it was at its peak.”
He further added,
“There is a sort of a vacuum now. It’s kind of an exciting time to be making a series or pictures that are not necessarily episodic, or the storyline is continuous in that kind of cinematic universe kind of way.”
Taking a slight dig at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is kind of floundering at the moment with most of it’s projects not doing too well, the 41-year-old director is excited to fill the vacuum that has been created because of this lull.
MonsterVerse Is Experiencing An All Time High
The MonsterVerse is not a new franchise, with movies being released since 2014. The Kaiju movies from Japan started getting adapted into the American scene with Godzilla (2014), followed by Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). Then Adam Wingard started his journey with the franchise, directing Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), and is now gearing up for the release of his next movie in the MonsterVerse – Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
With recent releases like the Oscar winning movie Godzilla Minus One and the Apple TV+ show, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, fans are more interested in the MonsterVerse than ever. Further in the interview with PTI, Wingard said:
“We are going through an interesting cultural moment because Godzilla is sort of more popular than he has almost ever been. The fact that you have ‘Godzilla Minus One’, ‘Monarch’, the TV show, and then you have my film.”
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will see another creature in the monster arc after wowing audiences with a joint venture from Godzilla and Kong in the 2021 movie. Scar King, who is entering the premise with a brand new set of skills. He is an animal but has human traits that make him different from the rest. Wingard mentioned-
“I wanted to bring in a villain that was someone that both Kong and Godzilla would find formidable for different reasons. Scar King needed to be a villain that could be both an issue for Godzilla and Kong because at the end of the last movie, they work together, but they are not necessarily friends.”
The giant orangutan will be ready to grace the silver screen alongside the monsters we know and love in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, set to be released on 29 March 2024.
