Even with the prospect of cinemas being able to open in early summer on the horizon, there are still some major movies being mulled for online and streaming releases. Godzilla Vs Kong was one of them – due to arrive on US screens on 31 March, as well as hitting the US-only HBO Max streaming service for a month on the same day, but without a UK release plan announced. Now, it’s been confirmed that UK fans won’t have to wait to see it – but the biggest film yet in the Monsterverse franchise will, at least at first, be viewed as a home Premium VOD rental.
Warner Bros has confirmed that Adam Wingard’s monster-mash will be available to rent in the UK from Thursday 1 April (no, it’s not an April Fool – or, at least we hope the film itself won’t be), just one day after its US launch. This kind of premium paid rental is the same approach Warner Bros has taken with several of its other films – including Wonder Woman 1984, Judas And The Black Messiah, The Witches and The Little Things, though it was recently confirmed that HBO Max’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League has been snapped up for release on Sky Cinema / Now TV on 18 March.
Frankly, creatures as colossal as Godzilla and King Kong are made to be seen on the most gargantuan screens – with ear-bursting sound to boot. And since the trailer for this one looked like real, big, dumb fun, here’s hoping the film might still grace the big screen when cinemas reopen in the UK – if it’s a very different kind of movie, Disney recently confirmed that Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland will still be available to view in cinemas after it debuts on Star on Disney+ at the end of April.
Wingard’s film follows on from 2014’s Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, pitching the two ‘titans’ in a colossal smackdown, the next bout in a prehistoric grudge between mythical monster species. If the uber-ape and mega-lizard are the real draws here, the human cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Julian Dennison, Eiza González and Kyle Chandler.