Seconds after premiering at the San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. and Legendary shared with the world the first trailer for Kong: Skull Island, the newly minted King Kong movie that will live in the same universe as the Godzilla films.

The footage is absolutely spectacular, giving heavy nods to genre films such as Aliens, Predator, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, among many others (collect them all!). Jordan Vogt-Roberts looks to bring the “wow” back to theaters by delivering an apocalyptic (even Apocalypse Now) feel to the film that mirrors the size of the new King Kong, who is quite notably monstrous.

I think what impresses me the most is that they dropped the “Beauty and the Beast” nonsense and have turned this into a battle between man and monster…on an island. There’s even a shot of someone shooting an automatic weapon from the top of an enormous Triceratops skull. I really don’t know how you top that…

In the film, a diverse team of explorers is brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific – as beautiful as it is treacherous – unaware that they’re crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong. It features Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Wilkinson, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, Thomas Mann and John Ortiz.

Kong: Skull Island opens in theaters on March 10, 2017, followed by Godzilla 2 on March 22, 2019, and Godzilla vs. Kong on May 29, 2020.

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