I don’t know if you noticed, but this year’s San Diego Comic-Con was not as impressive on the movie front as last year’s showing. Sure there was some cool footage, impressive trailers and even some wonderful character reveals, but there were no real big movie announcements from the major studios. Except for Legendary, that is – they definitely had a big announcement. How big? Try “giant king of the apes” big as they surprised the audience with their teaser trailer for Skull Island, a prequel to King Kong.
The teaser trailer also revealed that the movie would be coming out on November 4, 2016, which in big budget, CG-heavy blockbuster terms is just around the corner, meaning that we should be expecting some kind cast and crew announcements real soon.
Did I say real soon? I meant now, as Deadline is reporting that Legendary have offered the director’s chair on Skull Island to Joe Cornish. After making a huge splash on the scene with 2011’s Attack the Block, Cornish has spent the last few years either writing scripts with frequent partner and good friend Edgar Wright, or being offered but then not being able to commit to a string of high profile projects. At one stage he looked set to receive the baton from JJ Abrams on Star Trek 3, but that deal fell apart. He is currently busy with his long awaited sophomore directorial effort, Section 6, a action spy-caper about the origins of MI6, after which his plate is pretty clear.
Cornish hasn’t officially accepted and there are no details made public about a deal as of yet, but with his availability and his directing sensibilities Cornish is a great fit for this and I won’t be surprised if he ends up taking the gig. And yes, this will obviously be quite a big step up from the low-budgeted Attack the Block, but Cornish showed in that film that he’s quite adroit at balancing action, comedy and monster scares. Plus, he’s already got some experienced big monster help on board as Deadline also mention that Legendary have set Godzilla scribe Max Borenstein the task of penning the script for Skull Island (which should also fuel the speculation that this is all building up to a King Kong vs Godzilla production).
Skull Island was already an intriguing project – as Deadline mentions, the parts set on the Island in Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake, were by far the movie’s best bits – but if Cornish jumps onto this, this will definitely become a blockbuster to keep an eye on.
Last Updated: July 29, 2014
