Those braving London’s morning commute today were given a terrific start to their week as Godzilla and Kong united around the River Thames and South Bank.
Godzilla’s bristling pink spikes, brimming with atomic power, were seen lurking eerily around Tower Bridge and South Bank alongside Kong, who appeared to be bursting from Hollow Earth and crushing an iconic London red phone box beneath the OXO Tower, which now bears the letters ‘GxK’.
The spectacular takeover spanning air, land and sea is still at large until late this evening and coincides with the upcoming release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from this Friday 29th March.
Said Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire filmmaker Adam Wingard, “A lot of the magic of the Monsterverse comes from watching these Titans battling it out in real world surroundings. To see Godzilla and Kong actually accessing Hollow Earth portals into London just really blew me away! I felt like I did as a kid, watching the Toho classics on a Saturday afternoon.”
Witnesses were stunned by the sheer scale of the film’s titular Titans, with just the visible sections of Godzilla bursting out of the water spanning an impressive 20 metres – the length of a tennis court. His ominous appearance on The Thames is inspired by a moment in the upcoming film’s trailer when the ‘Water Kaiju’ swims through a river, churning scenery in his path.
Meanwhile Kong’s right hand alone stands nearly five metres tall, his head seven metres diameter, 45 times the size of a human, and is clad in an impressive mechanical arm brace, the origins of which will be revealed in the new film.
And despite their alarming entrance into our realm, the Titans are also the product of human labour spanning the past two months, creating parts of a true-to-scale representation of two of cinema’s most famous beasts.
A team of over 40 worked a staggering total of 6,326 hours over two months to create the two epic sculptures, which collectively weigh over a tonne. Godzilla alone took 45 days for the team to sculpt the head and body, and 51 days were spent painting both beasts.
Fabricated from 3D reference from the filmmakers, the sculptures were built in a combination of poly, fibreglass and steel framework, as well as interactive lighting, with Godzilla containing over 70 individual pulsing pink lights to achieve the atomic effect, a spectacular addition in the new film, which sees him team up with Kong as a greater threat to earth materialises. Kong is covered in over 30m of fur, to create a hyper-realistic finish.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ new movie Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday 29th March.
About Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of “Godzilla vs. Kong” with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond.
Once again at the helm is director Adam Wingard. The film stars Rebecca Hall (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “The Night House”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Bullet Train”), Dan Stevens (“Gaslit,” “Legion,” “Beauty and the Beast”), Kaylee Hottle (“Godzilla vs. Kong”), Alex Ferns (“The Batman,” “Wrath of Man,” “Chernobyl”) and Fala Chen (“Irma Vep,” “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”).
The screenplay is by Terry Rossio (“Godzilla vs. Kong” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series) and Simon Barrett (“You’re Next”) and Jeremy Slater (“Moon Knight”), from a story by Rossio & Wingard & Barrett, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO Co., Ltd. The film is produced by Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric Mcleod, Thomas Tull and Brian Rogers. The executive producers are Wingard, Jen Conroy, Jay Ashenfelter, Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira.
Once again, Wingard is collaborating with director of photography Ben Seresin (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “World War Z”), production designer Tom Hammock (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “X,” “The Guest”), editor Josh Schaeffer (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Molly’s Game”), costume designer Emily Seresin (“The Invisible Man,” “Top of the Lake”). The composers are Tom Holkenborg (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) and Antonio Di Iorio (additional music on “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the “Sonic the Hedgehog” films).
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures Present a Legendary Pictures Production, A Film By Adam Wingard, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”
