The MonsterVerse Finds Godzilla X Kong Follow-Up Director In Grant Sputore

Adam Wingard obliterated the kaiju-sized box office earlier this year with "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," the follow-up film to his moderate hit, "Godzilla vs. Kong." Wingard, a director who cut his teeth in the horror genre, was a fresh and exciting new voice to take over everyone's favorite monstrous, radioactive lizard and gigantic gorilla antiheroes (or just straight-up heroes, depending on your perspective). A few weeks back, Wingard announced that he would not be returning for whatever the next installment of Warner Bros. and Legendary's MonsterVerse franchise would bring, sending the studio on a hunt for their next director. It's a difficult task, to be sure, as Wingard brought some serious silliness to the franchise, opting for films that feel like spending millions of dollars to bring a playfully imaginative game of clashing titans to life.

The new MonsterVerse movie will be written by Dave Callaham, who provided scripts for "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." While plot details have been slim, we know it'll be a direct continuation to Wingard's films and will feature some of the other Titans.

With Toho continuing their serious 'Zilla films with "Shin Godzilla" and "Godzilla Minus One," Wingard's fun times offered a flashy alternative, and I love living in a world where both "Minus One" and "The New Empire" can be watched at the same time. Alas, time moves forward and studios seemingly move even faster, as The Hollywood Reporter announced today that the next person to snag a spot in the "Godzilla + Kong + Titans" (or whatever they end up calling the movies moving forward) director's chair is Grant Sputore. If you read that sentence and went "Huh? Who?" it's okay, I'll happily serve as your introductory guide to the director.

Grant Sputore might not be a household name yet, but he certainly has the potential to become one of the industry's go-to directors for sci-fi action films. In 2019, Sputores directed the cyberpunk thriller "I AM MOTHER" starring Hilary Swank, a film that /Film's Ben Pearson said "takes a familiar premise and executes it to near-perfection, with first-time feature filmmaker Grant Sputore aided by a fantastic script, a star-making performance from UK actress Clara Rugaard, a strong supporting turn from Hilary Swank, and a brilliantly realized new robot that instantly cements its status in the pantheon of classic genre creations." The film boasts an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and marked one hell of a debut feature for Sputore. The film is currently available to stream on Netflix if you'd like to see it for yourself, but seeing what he's able to pull off on a modest budget has me delighted at the prospect of what MonsterVerse money could give him.

Sputore has yet to helm another feature, so this new Godzilla + Kong + Titans film will be his introduction to the public at large. I am cautiously optimistic to see what he brings to the table because Wingard is leaving some awfully big shoes to fill. As for the latter, he's got the action flick "Onslaught" that was picked up by A24, which once again reunites him with longtime collaborator Simon Barrett. It sounds like this is a situation where everybody involved wins, so here's hoping we as the audience feel similarly when the new film finally arrives.