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Will Godzilla and King Kong meet on the big screen?

Reports say a planned movie about King Kong may move to Warner Bros., the studio that released 'Godzilla.' If it happened, would the move result in a film where the two famous movie creatures battle?

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L: Weta Digital/Universal Studios R: Warner Bros. Pictures/AP
'King Kong' (l.) was released in 2005 and 'Godzilla (r.) was released in 2014.

Mothra and Ghidorah are far too old-school opponents for famous movie monster Godzilla.

A new take on the creature, titled "Godzilla," was released last year through Warner Bros. and now a planned film about King Kong could be heading to that studio as well. Reports say the plan is for a movie that has the two famous film creatures face off. 

The 2014 "Godzilla" film, which starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen, did well at the box office and a sequel was already announced for 2018. King Kong, meanwhile, was last seen on the screen in a 2005 film that was directed by "The Hobbit" helmer Peter Jackson. That movie also performed well at the box office.

The King Kong movie that’s in the planning stages, however, is titled "Kong: Skull Island" and stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, and Corey Hawkins. It was originally going to be released by Universal and now there are talks between the two studios about bringing Kong to Warner Bros. 

The two creatures have met before: they fought in the 1962 movie "King Kong vs. Godzilla," which was directed by Ishirô Honda. 

A more recent movie monster showdown was the 2004 movie "Alien Vs. Predator," which was followed by the 2007 film "Alien Vs. Predator – Requiem." In addition, 2003 saw two horror movie villains face off in "Freddy vs. Jason."

As evidenced by this Godzilla and King Kong idea first appearing in the 1960s, bringing two movie monsters together is nothing new. And introducing characters in separate movies, then bringing them together in battle, certainly continues to work for Marvel (that’s how they built the Avengers, after all, introducing many of them in solo films before releasing "The Avengers" in 2012). In addition, audiences have recently shown a taste for big movie monsters, as evidenced by the performance of "Godzilla" in 2014. The movie "Pacific Rim," which was released in 2013 and centered on large robots fighting off large monsters, didn’t perform as well, but this year’s "Jurassic World" certainly demonstrated audience interest in large creatures wreaking havoc, as does the continuing success of the "Transformers" franchise.

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