Godzilla Vs Kong Viral Marketing Site Found!

Fan Art

This been a wild morning of research and deep diving but thanks to one of our Discord members it looks like a new viral marketing site has been revealed!

UPDATE 1/18/21 - The twitter account has come out as fan made. The website however is still owned by Warner Bros and may still be a viral marketing site for GvK. Original article follows.

CStafford on the Tokyo Lives Discord server noticed some suspicious activity on a seemingly unconnected Twitter account this morning:

A possible hint of GvK marketing coming up: a Twitter account titled "WPKW26 News" just started following pretty much every official Legendary and official Godzilla Twitter account, which is significant because the website for that account (http://www.wpkw26.com/) is owned by WB, and is showing some trademark stuff for 2014. There isn't anything on that website yet, but it could be a part of the GvK marketing push, an ARG that looks like a news website with articles about the Titans and such

After looking into this further the twitter account WPKW26 was set up last June which would line up with a viral marketing strategy for a November release. Also if you search WPKW26 on Youtube you get search results for Godzilla and Kong without there being any direct connection.

The nail in the coffin actually comes from the credits of Godzilla King of the Monsters!

Look at the website on the right side

The fact that the news site has already appeared in the MonsterVerse makes this no longer a coincidence and now an actual fact.

The biggest thing to note about all of this is that the follows of the official Twitter accounts happened very recently which may hint that the viral marketing could be about to kick off! Get excited G-Fans!

Adam Wingard to direct 'Godzilla vs Kong'

Well this was unexpected! Relatively unknown director Adam Wingard has been chosen to direct 'Godzilla Vs. Kong.' Click here to read The Hollywood Reporter's exclusive announcement!

Analysis Complete - Kong: King of the Apes Season 1

Hello travelers and welcome to the first ever Analysis Complete! I hope your vessels are sea worthy because it's time for the first special report of Kong Month. Actually, scrap the vessels regardless of sea worthiness, because unlike every other version of Kong, this king is land locked.

Kong: King of the Apes is a Netflix original animated series that was released in April of 2016. Season one is made up of 13 episodes, using 3D models, and follows a “problem of the week” narrative structure. Set in the year 2050, the main plot of this show focuses on Kong and his band of environmentally conscious friends duking it out with an evil scientist and his army of robotic dinosaurs.

Spoilers from here on out!

The Above Picture is Deeply Inaccurate...

The Good:

• Environmental Messages: I really like that it seems the writing staff were all fans of Captain Planet growing up. Not an episode goes by without at least one ham-fisted message about protecting the environment and protecting wildlife. This is a pretty common theme with Toho's kaiju films, so it's nice to see it here. Also I support any media aimed at kids that tries to get them to love nature.

• Diverse Cast: Okay this is stretching it a bit. There are two Spanish speakers (...but one is the family maid) and a brother and sister of Chinese-American descent, though the brother is a huge missed opportunity. Oh, and they have an African-American guy who wants to bang a robot lady. Finally, robosexuals getting some screen time in a kids show. Speaking of banging robots...

• Strangely Attractive Robot Dominatrix: This is a kids show right? What's happening here? Her name is Botila, which, I think they only do to set up one Godzilla reference in the later half of the show. Also there is a weird relationship between her and the main villain of the show who built her. Why am I having these feelings?  Is this Stockholm Syndrome?

• The “Bionobot” Opponents: Richard, the evil brother, has an affinity for long dead creatures (mostly) and has created a fleet of pretty cool looking robot dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Pterodactyls, a few Megalodon, and a Giant robotic squid. While I do like the designs, I have to stress that they copy and paste the models all over making the impact of these monsters run thin pretty quickly.

The Bad:

• Overuse of Iconic Scenes: Every episode, and I mean every single one, has a reference to Kong hanging off of the Empire State Building. The thing is, this show takes place in San Francisco and on “Kong Island” which is just a re-purposed Alcatraz. The animators seem to only vaguely remember the 1933 movie and went off of that for the character actions of Kong.

• Everything about this Kong is Wrong: In the first episode Kong manages to speak (saying “Kong!” in response to what his name should be), then reverts to just monkey noises for the rest of the season. He grows in weird spurts that look like the animators randomly resized the model. His face is way too cute even though he's supposed to be frightening.

• “Problem of the Week" is Weak: I can't understand how they missed the opportunity to make this a “Monster of the Week” show. You have an evil scientist who can build robot versions of dinosaurs, clone dead animals, and fit living animals with control collars It really must come down to budget, and that's a real shame.

• Pretty Much Everything About the Animation After the First Episode:They use the same models, but Kong has a weird glide to him every time he runs and character models never directly interact leaving moments where people hover just above Kong's body. Mouths flap with little regard for what the characters are saying.

• Evil Brother is Evil Because...why?: The brother seems to have no real reason for being evil outside of the need for a villain. I don't need a complex layered antagonist, just some basic rational. Kid's aren't dumb, they can pick up on things if you put them there.

• The Animal Whisperer: Danny Quon, arguably the replacement main character after the first episode, is welcomed onto the team as a “certified animal whisperer”. This is ridiculous for so many reasons, but I'm going to stick to three.

1. That's not a real thing

2. Everyone can already understand Kong and Kong can understand them.

3. This one is more personal, but what a waste. If they wanted to have someone talk with Kong, why not have Danny teach Kong sign language. They are pushing an environmental angle and trying to have an inclusive cast of characters that speak different languages, so it would have been nice to have one more positive, inclusive message (and a reference to Koko the gorilla would have been nice for the kiddos).

• The Intro: In my 29 years on this planet I have never seen a lazier intro. It's a hyper cut of the very first episode with some of the show's low key background music. I've never seen a show skip out on the bear minimum of a intro credit song but we don't even get that.

The Weird:

• This Series is a Sisyphean Nightmare: Every episode ends with a character saying that something is going to change, but at the intro of the next episode all character progress is forgotten. But, no one has it worse than Botila, the Robot Dominatrix. At the mid-way point the writers decide that the show should have her turn on Richard. They keep flirting with this idea over and over, ending each episode with a sequence where she says that she's going to do something about him. Then she's just back into the fold at the start of the next episode. To be fair, they do have one episode where she takes over Richard's evil empire, but they roll that back by the end of the day.

• Achievement Unlocked: As each episode plays you unlock these “Power Ups” that allow you to watch post-credit fight between Kong and an antagonist. These work like achievements in video games. If you get through the full episode, you get to unlock a special video with the power ups. I actually kinda like this gimmick? I would be down to see this in other Netflix shows, but instead of just a fight sequence maybe have it be tiny “Making Of” videos for the episode.

• Kong's Bevy of Merchandise Based Technology: While, to this point in time, there is no Kong: King of the Apes merch (other than some children's pajamas) it is pretty clear that the show was built to sell Kong toys and peripheral attachments. Over the course of the show Kong goes through several tech upgrades including: Laser proof wrist bracelets, a helicopter harness, a Jet pack, and an Invisibility cloak. I know this is just how kid's shows make money, but it comes off as poorly thought out when you see Kong (who is supposed to have the intelligence of a 3 year old) zooming around on a jet pack.

Final Thoughts:

So that's the show, a lazy poorly thought out mess. I'm having a hard time recommending it to anyone as it's not a good show, or even bad enough to be funny. As a kid's show it's visually entertaining enough to keep younger viewers distracted, so maybe it would work if you are a baby sitter taking a smoke break? I'm sure there are better ways to spend 7 and a half hours of your life, like watching any other Kong cartoons...

This has been Analysis Complete, and next time, we will be going back in time to the far off year of 2000.

'Kong: Skull Island' - Trailer and Posters released!

Today has been a super eventful day in the marketing of the new Kong film and I am extremely happy to share with you the full theatrical trailer for the film as well as a brand new poster! Check them out!

That is one sexy looking poster! I am a huge fan of the minimalist approach to it and it is definitely a poster that will catch peoples eyes as they walk by. But now time for the thing you have all been waiting for!

Wow...there is so much to talk bout in this trailer I don't even know where to begin. It's great that they really aren't shying away from showing Kong himself and even gave us a good look at the villain Kaiju of the film: The Skull Crawlers. This trailer has so much stuff to talk about in it that I will definitely be doing a full trailer breakdown and posting it up onto the site ASAP (I promise I actually will do it this time). 

What did you think of the trailer? Are you excited to see this completely new take on the King Kong story?

'Kong: Skull Island' - First Look At A Full Shot Of Kong!

We here at Tokyo Lives have been waiting with bated breath for some more glimpses of Kong from the new film 'Kong: Skull Island' and it looks like today is that day. We are supposed to be getting a new trailer some time before 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' according to some deep digging into the viral site discoverskullisland.com but Entertainment Weekly just released a photo of the titular beast ahead of next week.

And he looks...FANTASTIC! I see a lot of '33 Kong in his face and it looks like the design is really going back to its roots. I am a huge fan of this design! I'm guessing that this shot is from said trailer next week and it is super cool that they aren't hiding the design of Kong until the film releases!

What do you think of the design? Do you like it better than Peter Jackson's Kong? Let us know in the comments below!

'Kong: Skull Island' - First Poster Revealed At Comi-con

Legendary and Warner Bros. Hall H Comic-con panel for everyone's favorite 100 ft tall Gorilla isn't until tomorrow but we have already gotten a pretty sweet teaser poster from the huge event. Posted on their official Facebook page, it gives a good first glimpse of the titular ape and reminds me of a certain other giant monster film's marketing. Check it out!

This poster is super cool and I'm really digging the whole green flare imagery in this Teaser poster. It brings back great memories of the original teaser poster for 'Godzilla (2014)' and is a good way to subtly link the two films via marketing.

As for the glimpse of Kong himself it is a little too hidden within the fog to get too many details but it definitely has some facial structure similarities to Peter Jackson's 'King Kong' design. None the less, Kong looks super awesome hidden in the mist and he's super huge!

Keep an eye on the site tomorrow as we will be keeping you all up to date as the panel is going on tomorrow afternoon.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 2

Continuing from where I left off in part one, I had just finished talking about the dull/lame island that acted as the setting in the 1976 'King Kong.' Now, it's time to move on to brighter shores. In part two, I'm going to break down the glorious Peter Jackson created island from 2005, and give some brief speculation on what we might see in the new film: 'Kong: Skull Island.' The Peter Jackson Skull Island is actually the reason for breaking this article into two parts, since there was a lot of thought put into it's design and ecosystem.

2005 - SKULL ISLAND

Say what you will about the actual 2005 'King Kong' film, but no one can deny the beauty and mystery that hides in every frame of this island. Peter Jackson and crew did an astounding job creating a literal lost world, one that had remained relatively untouched by human hands for sixty-five million years (minus the villagers, but I'll get to them in a second). This island is unlike any jungle seen in the real world, and it definitely brought back that sense of 'going into the unknown' that the 76' Kong was sorely lacking. The beautiful-but-hellish island is slowly slipping back into the sea (a plot point Jackson borrowed from 'Son of Kong') and is an extremely harsh environment for everyone and everything attempting to live on it. The island is still located somewhere off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia just like in the original 1933 film.

The creatures of the island aren't just dinosaurs that stuck around after the mass extinction, but actually feel like completely different animals from what they were before. These dinosaurs have been continuously evolving for millions of years, and have changed distinctly in order to live in Skull Islands' harsh environment. The Tyrannosaurs are now a new creature called Vastatosaurus Rex that have wider feet to climb rocky terrain and are covered from head to tail in hard scales to protect them from all of the other alpha predators on the island (the third finger is still there as a reference to the original Kong). The raptors have evolved to be thin and tall. They can now hunt down some of the larger prey on the island like Brontosaurus, and compete with much bulkier predators. Instead of trying to be completely accurate to science, Jackson decided to create an island that had changed with the times.

This time around dinosaurs aren't the only fauna that our adventurers had to overcome in order to save Ann, as the film is bursting with an ecosystem of diverse animals. We have giant leeches, humongous insects of all sorts, large hairless bats, and huge man eating eels that live in the swamp (the eel scene was cut from the theatrical release).

These other animals really flesh out the fact that this island is a massive threat to any and all fleshy little humans that dare come near it. And the humans that live here are just as harsh and cruel as the island on which they reside.

The natives are brutal and scary humans that make the other two film's villagers look like friendly next-door neighbors. The first thing they do is literally stab the audio guy through the chest and then attempt to crush Carl Denham's skull. These people are barley surviving on a tiny little strip of the island, and have seemingly cut into the rocks to create little dwellings. You really get the feeling that these people are not the rulers of this island, instead they feel like they are part of the unique food chain and are nowhere near the top.

I would highly suggest people check out the book The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island if you are interested in the thought processes that went into imagining the island of Kong 2005. It reads like someone studying the animals on the island, as well as how the inhabitants of the island have survived.

2017 - VIETNAMESE SKULL ISLAND

So, we really don't have much information on this Island as of yet, (considering we have yet to receive an actual trailer) but I have some ideas based on the behind the scenes footage and the leaked set photos. Obviously, this island looks very Pacific-Asian. The mountains and the foliage look like documentary footage I could recall from that region. It is interesting that they are going the realistic jungle route with the film, but it makes sense that this Skull Island would have to share the tone of the Legendary Godzillaverse.

I think that we will be getting monsters instead of dinosaurs/giant animals in this film. Now that we know Kong will be at least 100 feet tall, I really doubt that the film will just use generic or evolved dinosaurs as the side antagonists to go along with Kong. Again, since this film is part of the Legendary Godzillaverse, it would be great if they could bring some lesser known Toho monsters into the movie, and have Skull Island essentially be Monster Island from Toho's Godzilla series.

From what we have seen of the village it looks like they are going to be Asian-inspired as well, which fits the time period and setting of the film. Using the Vietnam War as a back drop will really help this film get a style for the island that we have never seen before. I would like to see these villagers still be cruel and unfriendly, but with the more realistic setting (especially with the Vietnam war raging in the background of the film) I think it should be a little toned down though from what we saw in Peter Jackson's Kong.

I'm sure that I will probably do an additional article once we get more footage of this new movie, but for now there really isn't enough information about the film. Keep a look out for our continued coverage of this upcoming film and I hope you've enjoyed our little retrospective of the mysterious island Kong calls home.

'Kong: Skull Island' Director Reveals King Kong's New Size

Warner Bros. showed up big for this year's CineEurope convention in Barcelona. On the first day alone, they revealed a megaton of news for their future film franchises, including everything from Harry Potter to the DC superhero line-up. That said, the big news for us was director Jordan Vogt-Roberts talking about King Kong's height in an extended preview for the upcoming 'Kong: Skull Island.'

He's quoted as saying, "This is going to be the biggest Kong there's ever been. Not 10 foot or 30 foot, but a 100-foot ape."

There was also some new footage shown in the preview, but no one has yet to detail what that included. Either way, the director confirming Kong's size (even if we've assumed this for awhile) is a huge reveal for the reboot. This solves the problem of the new Kong being able to stand toe to toe with Legendary's Godzilla, even if he's still going to be quite a bit shorter.

The news also brings up a slew of new questions in regards to the new Skull Island film. Why would Kong even care about humans when he's that big? How will the protagonists hope to fight off the giant ape, or even escape him in the dense jungle? What will Kong fight in the film that equals that kind of power?

I can't wait for the answers to these questions and more. In the meantime, we'll just wait patiently for the first trailer.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 1

We are on the cusp of a brand new iteration of King Kong ('Kong: Skull Island') - and that of course means a brand new look for the mythical island which he comes from as well. From what we have been shown thus far, the new Skull Island looks to be something completely different from what we have ever seen before. The islands of the films are almost characters of their own and are extremely crucial to the lore of Kong universe.  I just recently watched the 1976 'King Kong' in preparation for the next episode of our podcast, and I thought it might be fun to breakdown the differences between the three islands we have already seen and speculate about the little we have glimpsed of the new Skull Island. Keep in mind, this is not really a conversation about the creature Kong specifically - but more about the world he inhabits (including his competition in the food chain).

1933 - THE ISLAND WITH SKULL MOUNTAIN

Contrary to most people's beliefs, Skull Island was not named directly in the original film. The only reference to the island being skull related comes from the distinctive skull shaped mountain that occupies the center of the island. This is, of course, a place of prehistoric creatures that somehow survived their mass extinctions and live behind a massive wall that sections off a small piece of the island where the group of shipwrecked humans/natives are surviving. The island is said to be located off of the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia and has a very mythological feel to the design. It does not seem like a place that could have formed naturally, and that really adds to the creepiness factor once the rescue for Ann Darrow begins.

As I mentioned above, all of the fauna on the island is from a time long past. The crew of the USS Venture runs into your normal assortment of dinosaurs while on the island, and this being 1933, the dinosaurs all represent that time period's paleontological theories in beautiful stop motion. The Tyrannosaurus that Kong fights still has the third finger on his hands, and of course, is in the upright pose that all dinosaurs were thought to be in at the time.

There are some strange scientific inaccuracies (even for the time period) with the Brontosaurus that chases after the crew in the swamp. It seems that this normally docile plant eater has suddenly gotten a taste for human flesh, and would like nothing more than to chomp down on our hapless adventurers. For the most part though, all of the other creatures seem to be ripped straight out of the film 'The Lost World,' and provide worthy antagonists for the majority of the film.

The islanders are basically your generic pacific tribespeople seen in many films around this time - with painted faces and feathers stuck in the hair of the chief to boot. Just like in the other films, they seem to worship Kong and are the builders of the giant wall. Most of them are actually killed during Kong's final rampage on the island, and for the most part, they are actually kind of harmless. Sure they still kidnap Ann Darrow, but I get more of a scared feeling from these islanders. People just trying to survive who truly believe that Kong is their Protector/God.

1976 - BEACH/ISLAND OF THE SKULL

So here is a bit of a spoiler for the next podcast everyone... I hate this Skull Island. The location is the most generic island I have ever seen. In fact, I could not even find a picture from the film to use, but instead got a picture of the beach in Hawaii where they filmed the landing scene. You want the best description of this place? Hawaii with only a few residents and a single giant ape. Well, I guess there is one other creature on the island...

Yes, your eyes don't deceive you if you think that is a random giant snake. The only other living creature we see on this stupid island is a giant boa constrictor that shows up at the very end of the "adventure." As far as we can tell, this isn't an island where all of the creatures are huge or anything rational like that, just a giant ape and snake living in whatever the opposite of harmony is.

The villagers are kind of just there for the plot progression in the 76' film. In fact, I really don't perceive the fear aspect that we get from the original. Sure, they built a wall to keep out Kong, but it seems like they actually have a huge section of the island that they have carved out for themselves. Also, with the lack of crazy creatures on the other side of the wall, I feel like they have no need to worship Kong and sacrifice people to him for protection. To get my full thoughts on the film check out our next episode of the podcast that should drop sometime next week.

PART 2 - COMING SOON

In my next article, I'll talk in length about Peter Jackson's depiction of the famous island, and speculate on what the new film might be going for. Let me know which island is your favorite rendition, and what you hope they might do in the reboot.

Mondo Releasing Multiple New 'King Kong' Prints, Their History With Giant Monsters

With 'Kong: Skull Island' right around the corner, it is about time for the fan art to start surfacing. Even better when that fan is an accomplished illustrator. Jonathan Burton has designed two exclusive 'King Kong' posters for Mondo Tees, and boy are they cool. Both depict Kong from the storyline of the original movie; one on Skull Island after capturing his beloved damsel in distress, and the other during the intense battle between Kong and the airplanes in New York City. Two very different art styles, both equally stunning!

Jonathan Burton talked briefly at Mondo Con about how these prints came into creation:

"The KONG project has been a huge pleasure to work on particularly as the ideas were voted on by Mondo fans at the MondoCon 2 panel. The audience was split between these two and I’m flattered to be asked asked to produce both. The challenge for me was to make them both work as individual posters and as a pair.

The ‘Jungle’ poster is a nod to the spirit of the original 1933 posters playing on the fear of the immense monster. He is KING in his own habitat. Whereas the ‘City’ version (paying tribute to the Art Deco style of the film’s opening credits) shows us Kong on the defence dwarfed by the man-made skyscrapers fleeing from the human captors.

As Carl Denham says, “He’s always been a king in his world, but we’ll teach him fear”

Linking them together we have Ann Darrow in each, Jack Driscoll and Carl Denham are in both with very similar poses. The titles are in exactly the same place and the tag-lines help express the connected themes of a strange giant beast obsessed with the beauty of Ann Darrow ending up being controlled and destroyed by man."

Some of you might not know about Mondo Tees. Heck, I didn't until Coleman sent the news of these posters my way. The artwork they distribute is top notch, and always on the leading edge of pop culture. They have your fandom covered with everything from the Avengers to the X-Men, and what is that right there in the middle? Yep, it's city-stomping kaiju. Let's take a look back into Mondo's past and see how they represent our favorite giant monsters.

Godzilla

If you were following Godzilla 2014 before its release, you saw this image at some point. This truly stunning piece comes from Phantom City Creative

Mondo also has some interesting Godzilla art with variant options. This one by Tom Whalen has amazing style to it, and the english variant is an up-sale worth every penny.

This great piece comes from Shan Jiang. The visual style of the art is both shocking and eye catching. The approach Shan took with this print makes it one of my favorites on the site. I feel like I could find something new each time I look at it.

Pacific Rim

This one comes from Kevin Tong and features Gypsy Danger's fight with Leatherback. I think the art perfectly captures the essence of Pacific Rim.

I don't know how Ash Thorp managed to create such a powerful piece not only once, but twice with the variant cover. The contrast in colors really make the subjects pop and the action almost jumps out at you.

King Kong

You didn't think the two masterpieces you saw up top were the only 'King Kong' pieces from Mondo did you? Oh no my friends, with Kong being around since the early 30's, he has had plenty of time to build up some fan art. This striking piece from Burlesque of North America really stands out.

Laurent Durieux really shows how to capture both the spirit of the time period and the emotion of the scene.

Last but certainly not least is William Stout's rendition of one of the most iconic scenes in the original movie: Kong defeating the mighty T-Rex.

These posters just scratch the surface of what Mondo has had in the past and sadly all of these prints have been archived and are no longer available, with the exception of the first two Kong posters by Jonathan Burton which are now available for purchase on Mondo's website.