Just a few days ago we learned Legendary Pictures would be taking their potential blockbuster, Kong: Skull Island, away from Universal and over to Warner Bros., the studio they publicly left a couple of years ago. They've found tremendous success with Universal, too, considering the massive box office of both Jurassic World and Straight Outta Compton. So what's the deal then? Are things not as good as they seem? THR broke it down and discovered that, no, things are not so great between Legendary and Universal, and it involves some very high-profile projects.
Two of Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming films are part of what is a growing divide between Universal brass and Legendary's Thomas Tull, mostly over budgeting. The one that will hurt the filmmaker's fans the most is Pacific Rim 2, which is said to be on hold indefinitely and may not get made at all, this despite an August 2017 release date already established. The first film did well, grossing $411M overall, but it cost nearly $200M to produce, making it only a modest success. It seems there were also issues with Del Toro's upcoming horror, Crimson Peak, which Universal passed on due to concerns about the costly R-rated feature. They would prefer it be rated PG-13 to attract a wider audience, but Legendary has simply decided to foot the bill themselves rather than do that.
Meanwhile, Duncan Jones' video game adaptation Warcraft and Matt Damon-led historical sci-fi film The Great Wall are considered "problem" movies. What that means isn't clear but likely it has to do with their box office viability compared to the high cost of production. The footage of Warcraft revealed at Comic-Con didn't stir up a lot of chatter, while the latter film is expected to be incredibly expensive.
The other projects are mostly completed or will definitely happen, but that Pacific Rim news could be a heartbreaker. Let's hope Legendary and Universal get their act together so Del Toro can get back to more jaeger vs. kaiju action. Ultimately, what we want is a Pacific Rim vs. King Kong vs. Godzilla crossover, right? On that end, THR's report confirms the Kong: Skull Island script contains references to Monarch, the monster-tracking organization that employed Ken Watanabe's character in Godzilla. The stage is already being set for that Godzilla/King Kong showdown, it seems.
