People Are Loving Godzilla vs. Kong

Godzilla vs. Kong is a 2021 American monster film directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, it is the fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse. It is also the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, the 12th film in the King Kong franchise, and the fourth Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir. In the film, Kong clashes with Godzilla as humans lure the ape into the Hollow Earth to retrieve an energy source to stop Godzilla’s mysterious rampages.

The project was announced in October 2015 when Legendary announced plans for a shared cinematic universe between Godzilla and King Kong. The film’s writers room was assembled in March 2017, and Wingard was announced as the director in May 2017. Principal photography began in November 2018 in Hawaii, Australia and Hong Kong, and wrapped in April 2019.

After being delayed from a November 2020 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Godzilla vs. Kong was theatrically released internationally on March 24, 2021, and in the United States on March 31, where it was released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects and action sequences, but with criticism towards its underwritten human characters. It has grossed $123 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2021.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of 200 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website’s critics consensus reads: “Delivering squarely on its title, Godzilla vs. Kong swats away character development and human drama to deliver all the spectacle you’d expect from giant monsters slugging it out.” Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 47 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale.

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