It's interesting to release "Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire', a film that doesn't follow a continuous timeline, at a time when Marvel Studios is sort of past its peak, says director Adam Wingard.
Alluding to the recent poor performance of superhero films and series, crisscrossing timelines and character arcs, under Marvel Studios, the American filmmaker said a "vacuum" exists that could be filled with films in the monster genre, much like "Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire".
Wingard, who also directed "Godzilla Vs Kong", said the situation was different when he signed on to helm the 2017 film in the MonsterVerse.
"This was 2017 when I first started this whole journey. So, the cinematic landscape is just so different now and it is interesting because Marvel has kind of, at least to a certain degree, run its course in terms of its popularity, as big as it was at its peak.
"There is a sort of a vacuum now. It's kind of an exciting time to be making a series or pictures that are not necessarily episodic or the storyline is continuous in that kind of cinematic universe kind of way," the 41-year-old director told PTI in an interview.
"We are going through an interesting cultural moment because Godzilla is sort of more popular than he has almost ever been. The fact that you have 'Godzilla Minus One', 'Monarch', the TV show, and then you have my film," he said.
The director said the monster genre enjoys a massive fan following around the world because it's so versatile from both entertainment and metaphorical standpoints.
"There is always still something to read into but at the end of the day, the emphasis is on having fun."
It's also unique to see larger-than-life characters play up on a big scale, said Wingard.
"These are the characters that are 300-foot tall and every movie that goes on, we are given more and more permission to get closer to these monsters and not further away. They still stay the same size but they become closer to us in a lot of ways emotionally."
The director said "Godzilla Vs Kong", the prequel to "Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire", elicited a "powerful reaction" from the audience when they saw the two iconic characters - Kong being the giant gorilla - join hands briefly in the storyline of the film.
It was this promise of a team-up that Wingard wanted to explore in the follow-up movie, he said.
According to the synopsis, Godzilla and Kong must unite against an undiscovered threat that threatens the Hollow Earth and the surface.
"As soon as I saw the film with the audience, you couldn't really at least for the time being separate the two characters again. You couldn't just do a Godzilla movie or a Kong movie as a follow-up.
"During the last film, I started realising that it was all about the promise of the team-up so that's sort of where genesis for this thing came in. I wanted to bring in a villain that was someone that both Kong and Godzilla would find formidable for different reasons."
That's where the Scar King, a brand new character, was created for "Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire".
"Scar King needed to be a villain that could be both, an issue for Godzilla and Kong because at the end of the last movie, they work together but they are not necessarily friends.
"They are still monsters and there is a bit of truce but once that truce is broken... Like, if Kong comes to the surface where Godzilla is still guarding everything, they're gonna have problems with each other," he added.
Scar King, a giant orangutan, represents a "dictator-type character", which has been assigned human traits, said the filmmaker.
"I wanted a villain that sort of reflected our reality in our time. First and foremost, this is a really fun monster action film. But the Scar King would be a relevant character because he sort of represents this threat, that can only be represented through somebody who has somewhat human traits.
"There has never been a monster before that covets power necessarily. A lot of time they go by instincts, no matter how evil they are, and so that's what makes him unique," Wingard said.
"Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire" stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen. Warner Bros India will release the film across the country on March 29.
