Variety is confirming the previous October report from ScreenCrush that Krampus director Michael Dougherty would be replacing Gareth Edwards as the director of Legendary’s Godzilla 2 aka Godzilla: King of Monsters.
When news first broke that Dougherty and his “Krampus” co-writer Zach Shields would be penning the sequel, reports surfaced that Dougherty would also helm the pic, but insiders said then that the deal was only to write the sequel, not direct. After months of work in the writers room, Legendary eventually extended an offer for him to direct as well.
Dougherty has strong ties to Legendary, having written and directed “Trick ‘r Treat,” one of Legendary’s first productions, which has become a cult hit. He then teamed with Shields on the recent Christmas horror pic “Krampus.”
We previously revealed that King of Monsters is expected to film in the Chinese port city ofQingdao at Wanda Group’s new studio facility Qingdao Movie Metropolis. Wanda recently purchased Legendary Pictures and will have an active role in moving productions over to their studio facility in Qingdao.
Godzilla: King of Monsters is set for release on March 22nd, 2019.
SOURCE: VARIETY