Matthew Modine of Full Metal Jacket and Stranger Things will share the screen with Godzilla and Kong in the next MonsterVerse movie
More than a decade has passed since Legendary Pictures secured the rights to Godzilla and other characters owned and created by the Japanese company Toho so they could launch a cinematic universe they call the MonsterVerse – and they also secured the rights to the King Kong character so he could be part of their MonsterVerse as well. Things got started with Godzilla in 2014, and since then the universe has expanded with Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, the animated series Skull Island, the live-action series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. A third Godzilla / Kong mash-up is now in the works – and Deadline has just revealed that Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket) is in the cast!
As Deadline notes, “the Stranger Things and Married to the Mob actors’ credits also include Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winner Oppenheimer, Hard Miles, Miss Virginia and The Martini Shot. He can currently be seen with Robert De Niro in the Netflix original series Zero Day.” Details on the character he’ll be playing in the MonsterVerse movie have not been revealed.
Modine joins a cast that includes the previously announced Kaitlyn Dever (No One Will Save You) and Jack O’Connell (Unbroken), who are said to be playing siblings in the film, Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty), and Dan Stevens, who is reprising the role of Titan veterinarian Trapper, the character he played in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire were both directed by Adam Wingard, but he has decided to return to his roots with the gonzo action horror thriller Onslaught rather than return for another round of monster brawls. The new sequel is set to be directed by Grant Sputore, who previously directed the Hilary Swank sci-fi thriller I Am Mother. Sputore will be working from a screenplay by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse writer Dave Callaham.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was the franchise’s highest-grossing installment and the highest-grossing Godzilla film of all time, pulling in $571.9 million at the worldwide box office. Kong: Skull Island was the previous MonsterVerse record holder, having made $568 million. Deadline hears that the next entry is described as a continuation of the franchise centering Godzilla, Kong, and an assortment of other Titans. It will feature several new human characters alongside Godzilla and Kong as they face off against a cataclysmic world-ending threat.
Are you looking forward to seeing Matthew Modine share the screen with Godzilla and Kong in the next MonsterVerse movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
