In October last year, Legendary and Warner Bros. cranked the Godzilla sequel up a notch with the hiring of Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields to write the script. At the time, it was thought this might lead to Krampus man Dougherty taking the director's chair for the giant beastie's follow-up, and now it is official: he has the job.
According to Variety, the original deal was just for Dougherty to co-write, but after months of work in charge of the writers room that is looking to develop both new Godzilla films and extend the King Kong story to the point where the massive beasts meet, he's convinced them that he's the man to oversee the next 'Zilla outing.
Having worked with Legendary since the days of Trick 'r Treat, Dougherty made Krampus with Shields as co-writer at the company and has now stuck around for this one, which is aiming to release on 22 March 2019, with Godzilla Vs. Kong scheduled for 22 May 2020. As for Kong himself, the giant ape's next film is Kong: Skull Island, due here on 10 March.