Director Adam Wingard will not be returning for the third installment of Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s Godzilla x Kong film series due to scheduling conflicts.
His departure is described as amicable, with the possibility of his return in the future left open. Wingard is set to direct an original film titled Onslaught this fall before considering other projects.
David Callaham, known for his work on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is confirmed to write the script for the third film in the series.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the latest entry in the “Monsterverse” series, premiered in the U.S. on March 29, earlier than its originally planned April 12 release.
This date itself was a rescheduling from an initial March 15 opening. The film earned about $8 million in preview screenings on March 28 across approximately 3,400 locations in the U.S., marking the second-highest preview earnings for a “Monsterverse” movie, following the $9.3 million preview earnings of 2014’s Godzilla.
The film grossed $80 million in its opening weekend, topping the U.S. box office. It has since earned a total of $194.5 million in the U.S. and $563.8 million globally.
In Japan, the film opened on April 26, debuting at #2 at the box office. During its first three days, it sold 306,000 tickets and earned 466,704,060 yen (about $3.05 million).
By the end of its first four days, it had sold 417,000 tickets and earned a cumulative total of 622 million yen (about $4.06 million). As of May 19, the film has accumulated a total of 1,557,093,250 yen (about $9.95 million) in Japan.
