As promised earlier this week, the trailer for Godzilla Vs. Kong has arrived. Watch it in all its epic, heightened kaiju glory below, and then get excited thinking about the fact that GVK is currently scheduled to hit theaters and HBO Max on March 26.
Legendary Pictures teased the trailer earlier this week when they tweeted the first image of the movie’s poster, to which fans reacted positively. The studio also posted a sneak peek teaser of the trailer on Saturday, because it’s 2021 and teaser trailers for movie trailers is definitely a thing.
The trailer itself gives us our first real glimpse at the brewing battle between Godzilla, a giant lizard, and King Kong, a giant ape. According to the film’s official plot synopsis, “an enraged Godzilla” is “cutting a swath of destruction across the globe” when King Kong, on a spirit journey to find his true home with his orphan friend Jia, gets in its way. Unsurprisingly, the legendary monsters subsequently collide “in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.” But “the epic clash between the two titans–instigated by unseen forces–is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.”
Interestingly, Godzilla Vs. Kong is being represented as a standalone picture, but it’s also definitely in the continuity begun by the 2014 Godzilla movie and continued in 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Today’s trailer features Kyle Chandler, who reprises his role from King of the Monsters as reluctant scientist Dr. Mark Russell, as well as Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown as his daughter, Madison Russell–alongside new characters played by Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and others.
The trailer features some classic images of Kong sedated and in chains, before Godzilla arrives to ruin his vacation–and plenty of action-packed shots of the two enormous CG monsters exchanging blows, including one climactic moment where Kong slam dunks Godzilla’s own energy beam back into its scaly face. If you’re anticipating Godzilla Vs. Kong solely for the kaiju battles, it looks like you won’t be disappointed.
Godzilla Vs. Kong is currently scheduled to be released in theaters March 26, and–in the US–on HBO Max the same day, where it will stay for 31 days. However, conspicuously, this trailer and Legendary’s tweets only mention 2021, so we might have another impending COVID-related delay soon. After all, it’s no secret that Legendary is not happy with Warner Bros.’ decision to release the movie on streaming simultaneously with its arrival in theaters.
