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The pandemic has changed much of the relationship that audiences have with the big screen. With many moviegoers still afraid to go out, when it comes to choosing which movie to see at the local cinema, there usually has to be a justification for viewers to spend the time and money to go see it. The rationale can mostly be summed up as big: big stories, with big characters, in big settings, and even more big things to follow in this franchise. This is why many local multiplexes are dominated by remakes, reboots and franchises. In the eyes of many moviegoers, if they are going to see a movie on the big screen, the movie itself has to be big to be worth seeing on the big screen.
It’s obvious that Marvel is the model for today’s cinematic trends with stories spanning over a decade with eventual payoff down the road as long as they’ve been around for previous installments. Now Marvel has released the likes of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Coming Home, and these are the movies that moviegoers are looking to see on the big screen. It’s been so successful for Disney and Marvel that most companies are trying to create their own hand in the “cinematic universe.” This has generally backfired with most companies outgrowing too quickly, throwing development down the massive windows. Mainly because instead of taking lessons from Marvel on how they created their universe, they only see the success of the big payoff at the end and immediately want to get there without the years of earning those moments.
Patience seems to have been key and if another company has done it as well, it’s Legendary Pictures with their “Monsterverse.” In 2010, Legendary Pictures secured the rights to King of the Monsters, Godzilla, from Toho. For many fans, the deal to bring Godzilla Return to America brought eerie flashbacks to another Kaiju-sized disaster of another western attempt on the famous not-so-fire-breathing monster Roland Emmerich 1998 Godzilla. But amid the trend of superhero origin stories, Legendary Pictures would create its own origin story for Godzilla, this time making the monster closer to a hero than the path of nuclear destruction it was originally created for. He is now the force of nature he once was as well as the one who maintains balance among the others Kaiju teased.
But unlike other studios, only a Godzilla reboot was in progress at the time with the rights to King Kong comes a year later Godzillaof 2014 and the rights of Rodan, Mothraand King Ghidorah coming in 2014, again from Toho. The goal wasn’t just to make a movie that would lead to other installments, it was also to create a good Godzilla movie that would satisfy the audience to keep them coming for more installments. That’s when the studio saw the success of Godzillathat they started looking for the rights to the Kaiju that would eventually make up the full Monsterverse that would develop into the sequels Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong.
But even then, Legendary Pictures didn’t bombard local theaters with monster movie after monster movie unlike the hustle and bustle of multiple movies in a year. The average time span between Monsterverse installments is two years, giving audiences wiggle room and time to enjoy ongoing installments and slowly build anticipation for the next one. It works especially well when trying to build excitement for the movies’ ever-increasing scale. But just like Marvel is doing now, Legendary is learning the right lessons again and patiently and expansively growing its franchise with a show.
It was announced in January of this year that Legendary would be bringing the Monsterverse to Apple TV+. Although not much is known about the show at this time, only that the synopsis says it is set after the events of 2014 Godzilla film. But from what’s been seen of the last two installments alone, it’s safe to say that more Monarch and Kaijus are in store with the universe slowly but steadily building. Although Legendary Pictures used the most popular Godzilla enemies already, there is still a huge line-up of Godzilla villains who were not used as huge and Destroybut Legendary has also shown that they are completely open to creating their own monsters for the Monsterverse.
But only time will tell who or what the Legendary Images may include in their Monsterverse. But with the line-up so far, it looks like they will continue to take their time, which seems to be best. Anyone legendary can get it safe to say they “let ’em fight”.
