All 3 Godzilla & King Kong Crossover Movies That Never Happened

Between the Godzilla and King Kong reunions of 1962 and 2021, there were a series of three known attempts to reunite the two. Created in 1939 and 1954 respectively, King Kong and Godzilla have shared the big screen a total of three times over a 71-year period of shared cinematic history. After RKO and Toho staged the famous showdown between Godzilla and King Kong in 1962 King Kong vs. GodzillaIt took decades before a rematch could be resolved.

Legendary Godzilla vs. Kong They notably renewed their rivalry by pitting incarnations of Monsterverse characters against each other. Instead of going their separate ways like their Toho counterparts all those years ago, Godzilla and Kong reunited again just three years later in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire end. In addition, a fourth association is expected in the title not yet Godzilla x Kong continuation. But if previous efforts for Godzilla-Kong crossovers had been different, their next team-up could have been their seventh meeting.

Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla

The film would have been a direct sequel to their first crossover.

King Kong fighting Godzilla

Similar to how Legendary went from Godzilla vs. Kong and direct to Godzilla x KongToho once intended to do this as well. Due to the success of the first crossover, Toho had talks about an immediate follow-up in which the two would have a rematch. Noble Continuation: Godzilla vs. Kongthe treatment would have been a direct sequel that picked up after the events of Godzilla’s apparent defeat. Godzilla’s body would have washed up on the shore, and the human characters mistakenly assumed he was dead for much of the film.

It would also have reversed the human characters’ plan in King Kong vs. Godzilla making them work to revive Godzilla with electricity to fight King Kong.

The lead-up to Godzilla’s awakening and inevitable rematch with King Kong would have consisted of a fight between Kong and a giant scorpion and the introduction of a monster amusement park. It would also have reversed the human characters’ plan in King Kong vs. Godzilla making them work to revive Godzilla with electricity to fight King Kong. At the end of the film, the fight would have concluded with the two trapped in a volcano.

Of course, the film didn’t move forward, and Toho opted to make Mothra vs. Godzilla next instead. No official reasoning has been offered for the sequel not coming to fruition, but as John LeMay noted The Big Book of Giant Japanese Monster Movies: The Lost Moviesthe story was extremely similar to the first film, to the point that Toho perhaps didn’t consider it worthwhile.

Destroy all monsters (1967 version)

There were several drafts of the Destroy All Monsters script, some featuring different Kaiju

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In 1968, Toho released Destroy all the monsters, an Avengers-style crossover where Godzilla and a host of kaiju from other Toho monster movies joined him in a fight against King Ghidorah. There were monsters with pre-existing connections to Godzilla, such as Angurius, Rodan, and Mothra, including monsters from independent films, such as Baragon, Varan, and Manda. But while it had an impressive lineup, it was actually supposed to be much bigger. In an earlier draft of the script, King Kong would have also participated in the fight, presumably as an ally against Ghidorah.

While Destroy all monsterss didn’t bring Kong back after King Kong EscapesIt featured Gorosaurus, one of his two opponents in the film.

Because Toho saw Destroy all monsters As an all-hands-on-deck story, he wanted all of his monsters involved, and that approach included, in addition to the monsters seen in the final version, King Kong and Sanda and Gaira from War of the Gargantuas. King Kong’s appearance would have been fresh from his role in 1967. King Kong Escapes. However, it would seem that Destroy all monsters It took too long to make. The five-year licensing agreement that allowed Toho to use Kong finally ran its course, resulting in King Kong Escapes being his last Toho film.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1991 version)

After Biollante, Godzilla almost fought King Kong instead of King Ghidorah

Biollante biting Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Biollante

Toho’s interest in Godzilla-King Kong crossovers cooled after losing the rights, but heated up again in the early 1990s, when the Heisei Godzilla series was ongoing. After Godzilla vs. Biollante performed poorly at the box office, Toho returned to a more recognizable franchise name for its next opponent and made Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Before deciding on that matchup, Toho considered a pitch from Shinji Nichikawa, who proposed a remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla. It makes sense that Toho would be interested in the idea, considering how much attention the film would have received.

Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Hedorah with Godzilla from Monsterverse

Related The Monsterverse Wouldn’t Exist Without This Unrealized Sequel to a 1971 Godzilla Movie

A failed plan to make a sequel to a 1971 Godzilla film is ultimately what paved the way for Legendary’s Monsterverse to be born in 2014.

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According to what has been established about the remake’s plot, King Kong would have lost his first fight before transforming into a cyborg for the final battle. If this plot sounds familiar, it’s because this is the direction Toho ultimately took during Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. So while Toho may not have followed through with this plan, it appears this aspect of the story was recycled into their next Godzilla project via Mecha-King Ghidorah. As for why it didn’t happen, LeMay’s book suggests that the rights to King Kong may have been considered too expensive for Toho to purchase at the time.

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Movie(s) Godzilla, Godzilla 2, Godzilla 3, Shin Godzilla, Godzilla, Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla Minus One, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla Vs King Kong, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, godzilla: monster planet, Godzilla vs Gigan, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla: Final Wars, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla: The Showa Era Films, Godzilla vs. Biollante Created by Tomoyuki Tanaka, Akira Watanabe First Godzilla movie Last movie Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire First episode Air date November 17, 2023 Expand

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