Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – this Chinese-US blockbuster maximises the global appeal of the MonsterVerse

Seventy years after his first appearance in the 1954 Japanese film Gojira, Godzilla has become a global star. Meanwhile King Kong, his gigantic Hollywood counterpart, has been circling the globe for a shade over 90 years. The two come together in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire for the second time in the MonsterVerse film franchise, this time as unlikely partners protecting the Earth.Godzilla’s globalization began early in the character’s life. In 1956, Gojira was remade, with new scenes starring Canadian actor Raymond Burr as a US journalist explaining the film’s action to American audiences. The local and transnational politics of the Godzilla franchise have been mutating ever since.Godzilla began as an post-war destroyer of human cities like Tokyo, but over time the character has shifted, occasionally becoming humanity’s protector, an eco-warrior and even (infamously) a father in Son of Godzilla in 1967.The MonsterVerse films, which began with Godzilla in 2014 have replayed as many of the Japanese franchise’s main themes as it has remixed and amplified them. Across five films, the MonsterVerse has emerged as slick, well-defined giant monster mythos that has further globalized Godzilla – and King Kong along with him.Nuclear GodzillaIn the original Japanese film, Godzilla is...