‘Godzilla x Kong’ Follow-Up Enlists ‘Shang Chi’ Scribe Dave Callaham to Write (Exclusive)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings screenwriter Dave Callaham is going from the Marvelverse to the Monsterverse.

The scribe, known for his action acumen, has been tapped to pen the next installment of Legendary’s Godzilla/Kong monster movie series.

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The hiring comes in the wake of the box office success of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which has grossed close to $555 million worldwide. That is the biggest haul since 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, which peaked at $568 million. Empire, which is still in theaters, may also be one of the most profitable (if not the single most profitable) of the five movies in the series, as it only cost $135 million, per sources. Thus Legendary is keen to keep the monster juice flowing.

Adam Wingard directed Empire and created the story with frequent collaborator Simon Barrett as well as Terry Rossio. Legendary has signaled it would like to see Wingard return to the director’s chair after a successful run that also included the 2021 entry Godzilla vs. Kong. But Wingard has no deal at this stage. Complicating matters, the filmmaker is intent on making an original movie, titled Onslaught, this fall for A24, before taking on any other projects.

Still, Callaham knows a thing or two about Godzilla. The scribe wrote the early drafts and received story by credit for 2014’s Godzilla, the movie that kicked off Legendary’s monster mania. The company’s five movies have collectively earned $2.5 billion at the global box office, and last year, it expanded into TV with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The show has proven to be a hit for Apple TV+ and now a second season as well as spinoffs are in the works.

Callaham is known for originating The Expendables action franchise and worked on movies such as the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot and Wonder Woman 1984. He earned praise for writing Marvel’s well-regarded 2021 entry Shang-Chi and co-wrote Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which earned a best animated feature Oscar. Callaham is currently writing the third and final film in the series, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, with Phil Lord & Chris Miller.

He is repped by UTA and Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.

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