How Warner Bros. has sold a titan of a team-up
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits theaters this week as the kind of big screen team-up Justice League should have been. Following the events of 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, the two massive creatures are now teaming up to save themselves and humanity from new threats from “Hollow Earth”, the underground kingdom where the impossible thrives.
It is, surprisingly, the fifth film in the MonsterVerse franchise from Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. Like the previous movie, this one stars Rebecca Hall, Kaylee Hottle and Brian Tyree Henry, with Dan Stevens joining as another of the humans who try to survive the devastation while pretending that they’re helping. Adam Wingard is also back as director in what is surely a character study focused on telling a coherent story as opposed to being about one group of pixels beating up another group of pixels.
That may sound a bit snarky, but these MonsterVerse films have been mostly fun and enjoyable to date, and there’s nothing quite like a big monster movie, so let’s dive in and see how it’s been sold.
announcement and casting
The movie was essentially announced by Warner Bros. and Legendary when a release date for the then-untitled project was set in June 2022. Stevens was added to the cast as the lead around the same time, with the return of Hall, Henry and Hottle confirmed later that year.
Warner Bros. released a dramatic video while CinemaCon was happening in April 2023 that revealed the official title.
the marketing campaign
The first trailer (31.4m YouTube plays) came out in December of last year, opening by reestablishing that there’s a whole ecosystem below the surface of the planet that until recently humanity was entirely unaware of. There’s a new threat that’s emerged now that Hollow Earth is open for business, one that Kong can’t handle on his own but will need some massive, scaly help with. It ends with the two beasts running alongside each other into battle, which is the whole point of what’s going on here.
Some new photos from the film were shared in Empire Magazine in January. Shortly after that the original mid-April release date was moved up to the end of March.
A new poster was released in early February to celebrate the Lunar New Year, a good choice given Godzilla’s background and the fact that this is the Year of the Dragon.
The evolution and nature of the dynamic between the two monsters was covered in an interview with Wingard, where he talked about how he wanted to create a “buddy cop” style feel to their interactions.
That key image of Godzilla and Kong alongside each other is used on the next poster which came out in mid-February.
Along with that came a new trailer (31m YouTube plays) that establishes the different roles the Titans and Great Apes have played over the centuries. But there’s a new power among the apes that is leading them into war, which necessitates the teamup between the two former adversaries.
Another poster along with an IMAX exclusive one-sheet continue using variations on that pairing to help create a sense of massive scale for the story and characters. Those came out as tickets were going on sale, followed by a look at how characters and places from the film were being integrated into Roblox for players there. Later on Call of Duty added bundles that let players smash their way through the game with movie-inspired skins.
A shorter trailer came out in mid-March that begins with a brief recap of the series so far before showing us how all of that has lead to this story.
Following that was another poster from IMAX as well as one-sheets for Dolby Cinemas (the best of the bunch because it looks like the cover to a new wave band’s greatest hits CD from 1994), RealD 3D and ScreenX.
Wingard was interviewed again, specifically this time about filming a good amount of the fight sequences in IMAX to get the biggest possible spectacle. He also sat down for a video conversation with Takashi Yamazaki, the director of the recent Godzilla Minus One, which got all the good reviews this one hasn’t.
The main cast members appeared together on “GMA” to talk about the movie and working with the massive creatures who weren’t actually there.
Huge promotional displays were created in London that had Kong emerging out of the sidewalk and Godzilla swimming the Thames while in Mumbai the entire side of a high rise was decorated with a mural. Those lead up to the movie’s Hollywood red carpet premiere, with the cast and crew in attendance and talking about how they prepared to work with their virtual costars while Wingard shared how he was influenced by Godzilla Minus One to add a few key moments. Stevens was also interviewed about how he got the part, which was written with him in mind.
overall
Reviews have not been very positive so far, with some questioning the very existence of the movie and others saying the pesky humans are just a distraction to the monster mayhem going on. But tracking surveys estimate an opening weekend box-office of over $50mm, which is pretty good in this day and age.
As for the campaign itself, there’s nothing massively innovative here either in tactics or messages, but that’s to be expected. The entire point of the marketing is to make sure that everyone knows the two legendary beasts are finally teaming up, which is exactly what the audience wants to hear. This isn’t the place for subtlety or subtext, so it delivers what it should.
Cinematic Slant 