Trivia / Godzilla vs. Kong

• All-Star Cast: Like Kong: Skull Island, this film is jam-packed with A-list stars such as Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, Eiza González, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Julian Dennison, Demián Bichir, Lance Reddick and (famous in Japan) Shun Oguri.
• Blooper: At one point, during the climactic showdown between the two characters in Hong Kong, Kong's arm phases through one of the buildings for a split second (can be seen in this video at 00:32 on the left).
• Channel Hop: Averted; with the COVID-19 Pandemic shutting down theaters and limiting box office potential, Netflix made an offer to Legendary Pictures to acquire the film for $200-$250 million. (Netflix had previously released fellow Legendary pandemic refugee Enola Holmes.) However, WarnerMedia blocked the deal. This led to fury on Legendary's part when the plan to simultaneously release all of Warner Bros.' 2021 theatrical slate on HBO Max was revealed; the company demanded Warner match Netflix's offer. A legal battle was ultimately averted following negotiations, which saw Warner paying Legendary back for its share of the production cost to acquire full rights to the film.
• Development Gag: In the script to Jan De Bont's attempt at a Godzilla film in the 90s, as well as a few pieces of concept art, Godzilla is mentioned and shown to be able to move about on all fours in a few scenes. Come this movie, in which an enraged Godzilla chases after Kong on all fours. Fittingly, the screen story was developed by Terry Rossio who co-wrote the 90s unused script.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Jia is a deaf Iwi girl portrayed by Kaylee Hottle, who is from an all-deaf family.
• Executive Meddling: Toho mandated a number of stipulations regarding Godzilla's portrayal in the film, including that he was not to display emotions to preserve the impression of him being a godlike entity. Adam Wingard pushed back and had Godzilla emote anyway.
• Invisible Advertising: Likely because of the uncertain release date changes mentioned below, the film didn't even receive a theatrical release poster until only two months before release (which, at that point, was already several months after the originally intended date), and a trailer less than two months from release.
• Refitted for Sequel: The Spirit Tiger and Fern Bird which were conceptualized for Kong: Skull Island make appearances in the comic Kingdom Kong and the children's book Kong and Me, respectively, both tie-ins for Godzilla vs. Kong.
• Release Date Change: The film was pushed back from March 2020 to November 2020. Then it was moved to May 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic crippling the movie theater business. It was eventually revealed by WarnerMedia in November 2020 that it will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day (for a one-month duration) along with the rest of the entire 2021 theatrical slate of Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures executives were not happy about this decision (likewise with Dune), and WarnerMedia entered negotiations with them. The simultaneous release was then moved backwards to March 26, 2021, then pushed back 5 days to March 31st, ahead of Easter weekend, to accomodate for the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League on March 18.
• Short Run in Peru: Launched theatrically in China on March 26, a few days before its US release on March 31.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise:
  • Early looks and leaked images of the Playmates toyline revealed the Warbats, Hellhawks, and MECHAGODZILLA well before they debuted in first official trailer.
  • The Playmates toyline also depict Kong and Godzilla with serious wounds, including a diagonal deep cut across his entire torso.
  • Funko Pop! released a Mechagodzilla Funko Pop, effectively spoiling the character's existence.
• What Could Have Been: See here.

---