Legendary Pictures’ reboot of Godzilla has landed its third screenwriter: Max Borenstein. Max appears to be quite the regular for Warner Bros. and Legendary, having put his time in on various in-development projects*, and boarded the project to rewrite the previous work done by David Callaham and David Goyer. Who wants to start taking bets on whether or not they’ll bring Jonah Nolan in for one last polish before (or during) production?
The film was originally (and ridiculously) targeted for a summer 2012 release, but I think safe to assume it won’t hit theaters until 2014. Legendary is also behind Guillermo Del Toro’s own kaiju epic, Pacific Rim, for a summer 2013 release. Factoring in that and the tiny fact that 2014 will mark the 60th anniversary of the Big G, I’d say summer 2014 seems a more likely slot for this production.
As reported back in January, Gareth Edwards (Monsters) is at the helm of this particular beastie. Edwards seems quite clear on the Herculean task that lies before him…
“This will definitely have a very different feel than the most recent US film, and our biggest concern is making sure we get it right for the fans because we know their concerns. It must be brilliant in every category because I’m a fan as well.”
Word is that Godzilla will be clashing not only with the military and urban development, but at least one other giant creature (Rodan? Ghidorah? Hedorah?) during the course of the film. I sincerely hope that Hollywood learned its lesson from the last time they attempted this. It certainly sounds like they have, although I guess we won’t really find out until this crazy kaiju stops onto the screen in a few years’ time.
Considering the fact that Toho seems to have no current plans to bring Godzilla back to the screen on their own, I wonder if this might serve as a reboot for the franchise as a whole? Basically, when Legendary (and the Brothers Warner) are done with the property, will Toho continue to sequalize it on their own or just reboot again? Only time will tell. Regardless of what happens, nothing has stopped Godzilla from decimating Planet Earth for a current total of 29 films across the past 60 years**….and I doubt anything will for a long time to come. What am I thankful for this year? The fact that the Big G will probably STILL be around long after I have shuffled the mortal coil. What a wonderful world indeed!
Oh no, they say he’s got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Source | THR
*- Including (but probably not limited to) Art of the Steal, the Hendrix biopic Jimi, and The Seventh Son (aka the Jeff Bridges exorcist movie).
**- This reboot will be the 30th feature-length Godzilla film, which is yet another reason why releasing it in the summer of the character’s 60th anniversary is a great idea.