At CinemaCon and confirmed on Twitter, Warner Bros. revealed that a 5-minute preview of Godzilla: King of the Monsters will play before Shazam! IMAX screenings this weekend. The move comes after strong audience and critic reviews followed the superhero film's advance March 23 screening from Fandango.
Currently, Shazam! is tracking for a $45 million USD domestic opening, a solid number for a film that has a reported production budget of only $100 million USD. Of course, this projection was made before news of the Godzilla screening so it will be interesting to see if projections begin to tick upwards.
Following the global success of “Godzilla” and “Kong: Skull Island” comes the next chapter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse: “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” an epic action adventure that pits Godzilla against some of the most popular monsters in pop culture history.
The film was directed by Michael Dougherty (“Krampus”), and stars Kyle Chandler (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Manchester by the Sea”) as well as Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air,” “The Conjuring” films); Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”) in her feature film debut; Bradley Whitford (“Get Out”); Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (“Shape of Water”, “Blue Jasmine”); Charles Dance (HBO’s “Game of Thrones”); Thomas Middleditch (HBO’s “Silicon Valley”); Aisha Hinds (“Star Trek Into Darkness”); O’Shea Jackson Jr. (“Straight Outta Compton”); Oscar nominee David Strathairn (“Good Night and Good Luck”), with Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai) and Golden Globe nominee Ziyi Zhang (“Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”).
The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species—thought to be mere myths—rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.
Dougherty directed from a script he wrote with Zach Shields, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO CO., LTD. The film was produced by Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni and Brian Rogers, with Zach Shields, Barry Waldman, Hiro Matsuoka, Keiji Ota, Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira serving as executive producers, and Ali Mendes and Jay Ashenfelter co-producing for Legendary.