Adam Wingard Not Returning for ‘Godzilla x Kong’ Sequel (Exclusive)

Godzilla and Kong have smashed their final constructing for Adam Wingard. At the very least for now.

Wingard, who has directed the final two of Legendary’s hit MonsterVerse films, is not going to be returning for a 3rd installment, a number of sources inform The Hollywood Reporter.

The parting of how is described as amicable and stemming from timing points. The door stays open for a future return, per insiders.

Wingard is coming off directing and co-writing Godzilla x Kong: New Empire, which has grossed over $564 million worldwide since its March 29 home opening. Wingard, who didn’t have a deal for any new installment, intoned he had extra tales to inform through the press tour but additionally unveiled a brand new unique characteristic undertaking that he needed to deal with earlier than one other monster film. That undertaking, an motion thriller titled Onslaught, was picked up in a aggressive sale by A24 and is prepping for a fall shoot.

That didn’t match into Legendary’s plan to maneuver swiftly onto the subsequent monster tag workforce. Though it signaled it want to see Wingard return to the director’s chair, his return was wanting doubtful when the corporate employed Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings scribe Dave Callaham to start penning a brand new script every week or two later. This week the parting of how was made official, in response to sources.

Legendary now goes on to start out recent for its subsequent monster film. It’s unclear whether or not it should proceed to discover ideas similar to Hole Earth  — the concept that huge subterranean worlds exist contained in the Earth — and characters such because the adventurous vet performed by Dan Stevens that have been launched by Wingard.

Wingard, for his half, leaves the franchise on a excessive notice. Godzilla x Kong is about to develop into the highest-grossing of the 5 MonsterVerse films and can possible snatch that title from 2017’s Kong: Cranium Island, which peaked at $568 million, this weekend. It might even be one of the vital worthwhile (if not the one most worthwhile) of the 5 films within the collection, because it solely price $135 million.

Wingard’s preliminary Godzilla entry was Godzilla vs Kong, which was launched through the Covid-19 pandemic each theatrically and on streaming service HBO Max (now referred to as Max). The film nonetheless grossed over $100 million domestically and $470 million worldwide and was among the many films credited for “saving cinema” throughout bleak theatrical instances.