Remember that Ben-Hur remake that would pretty much only be watchable if it starred Tom Hiddleston? Well it’s no longer starring Tom Hiddleston. Instead it will star Jack Huston, which means I can stop caring about a February movie. Instead, Hiddles has jumped ship for Legendary’s King Kong spin-off, Skull Island. The movie will be directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (who made the most excellent Kings of Summer) and will be written by Max Borenstein, who also wrote Godzilla. I wonder if this means that King Kong and Godzilla will occupy the same universe?
OF COURSE THEY WILL. It’s all about interconnected franchises, man. Legendary first announced Skull Island—set for a November 2016 release—at Comic-Con and it sounded like they intend for it to be a spin-off generator, ultimately leading to a new King Kong movie. Now I’m wondering if that will be King Kong vs. Godzilla a few years down the line. Besides, what’s the point of having the rights to all the monsters if you’re not going to make them fight one another?
I don’t care how dumb this movie sounds—and it sure does sound dumb—it’s a step up for Hiddleston simply by virtue of not being a February movie. Also, Vogt-Roberts is a pretty good director and the kind of offbeat choice for this type of movie that usually yields interesting results. I just hope the whole thing doesn’t happen at night in the rain. Why is that all of these types of movies happen at night in the rain?
