'Godzilla Vs. King Kong' Movie Release Date In 2020; Two Prequels Release Date Announced

It has been confirmed on Wednesday, Oct. 14 that "Godzilla vs. King Kong" movie will be released in the year 2020. Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. were planning to "marry" their movie franchises into a single shared universe, with two prior film projects for 2017 and 2018 according to a report from Slash Film.

Both companies announced that the basis for upcoming "Godzilla vs. King Kong" movie will be an ecosystem of giant super-species, both from classic versions and the recent ones. Meanwhile, there would be two film projects prior to the production of 2020 movie. "Kong: Skull Island" is slated for March 10, 2017 while "Godzilla 2" will be released on June 8, 2018.

While Legendary Pictures is still under Universal Studios, the production work for "Kong: Skull Island" will be transferred to Warner Bros.  effective Oct. 19 so that both film companies could work out the crossover possibility of "Godzilla vs. King Kong" movie project as reported by Variety.

The first film, "Kong: Skull Island" has an estimated budget of more than $25million, though Warner Bros. will also include it in a three-picture contract which also includes the proposed sequel and the crossover film. Meanwhile, Legendary Pictures acquired licensing rights to produce "Godzilla" film, which was headed by Gareth Edwards and released in May last year. It grossed over $500 million worldwide in box office.

However, this is not the first "Godzilla vs. King Kong" movie in the history. The first movie was made by Toho Studios in Japan in 1962, which was released in the US under Universal International. It was directed by Ishiro Honda and grossed at $1.25 million in US box office with an estimated budget of $200,000.

At present, Toho is working on an all-new "Godzilla" film slated for summer release next year. "Evangelion" director Hideaki Anno serves as the chief director and writer while Shinji Higuchi is directing the new film and also leads the special effects department as its director.