It was recently revealed that Legendary and Warner Bros. are teaming up to create a shared cinematic universe through which Godzilla and King Kong can trample. That means they won’t spare the expense on the exotic locations front. To bring Kong: Skull Island to life, the studio is adding two more filming locations to its list, which already includes Hawaii.
One of them is Queensland, Australia, which already played host to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and will serve as a filming location for Marvel’s apocalypse,Thor: Ragnarok. According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk said more than $15 million will be spent on Skull Island.
The other location is Vietnam, which The Hollywood Reporter notes will be a “substantial shooting location.” Pre-production is scheduled to begin this month, and some of the film’s cast members have already been spotted on location in Hawaii, including Brie Larson. If you think back to Peter Jackson’s King Kong, which took audiences into Skull Island, it was filmed largely in New Zealand. One incentive for Legendary to film in Australia is the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar, while THR states there’s a 16.5% location offset incentive if the production spends at least $10.9 million. The better for the audience, as these three sites will no doubt offer Kong’s home island a broader range of influences.
Kong: Skull Island is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and stars Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, Thomas Mann, Tobey Kebbell, John C. Riley, and Jason Mitchell. The film is said to “fully immerse audiences in the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.” Hiddleston teased to Collider that his character will be one of these explorers.
Kong: Skull Island is slated for release on March 10, 2017, while Godzilla 2 will follow on June 8, 2018 before the clash of titans in 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong.
