New Godzilla Movie Is a Big Highlight Of Comic Con 2013

Comic-Con 2013 is in full swing — it began Thursday, July 18, and goes until Sunday, July 21. The annual conference in San Diego that celebrates all things pop-culture has returned and is perfect location to debut the future lineup of box-office tentpoles for film studios. Films such as Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Marvel's Phase Two films Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World, and Godzilla are just some of the many movies that will be featuring panels. With the debut of these films, one studio has the prospective ability to establish itself as the front-runner for the new creative Hollywood, rivaling the upcoming productions of James Cameron (Avatar 2 and 3) and Peter Jackson (The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of Five Armies). Legendary Pictures has a lot of prime box-office successes (Godzilla and The Seventh Son) set to make their mark on the studio battlefield and establish them as the first big independent studio since Summit Pictures.

Godzilla in particular is set to make its mark for the film studio Legendary Pictures. The monster is making its comeback next summer with an all-star cast and crew. Director Gareth Edwards gained a great deal of recognition from his science fiction movie, Monsters, and cast actors and actresses, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston are all big names right now from recent productions. Godzilla will also have a special attraction in the form of a museum/theme park transformed from an old red-brick warehouse into “Godzilla Encounter”, a park where movie-lovers can see memorabilia from previous Godzilla movies and experience the attacks of the monster itself. Legendary President and Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni says, "We just wanted to share our passion for the franchise. It's a gift to Comic-Con and to the fans." Legendary Pictures in many ways has itself has become a kind of beacon for the new direction of summer movie hits.

Legendary Pictures originally made a name for itself by co-producing the critically-loved Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and the recent movie, Man of Steel. They broke up their partnership with Warner Brothers recently, and now have allied themselves with Universal, who will distribute, co-produce, and co-finance their films for five years. Legendary is also the studio that just released Guillermo del Toro’'s Pacific Rim, which although well-reviewed and liked by critics and movie watchers, did not make a huge splash at the box office. It’s not box office-wise even a domestic failure, but the film Pacific Rim is sure to make an enormous amount on the international market, where films with solid special effects often rake in huge amounts of cash for their movie studios (Avengers, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, and Transformers being just a few examples). Legendary has all sorts of other efforts planned including Brilliance, an adaptation of a book about a world where the top 1% of the world possesses incredible mental gifts. Also on the plate for Legendary is the Seventh Son, a fantasy movie starring Jeff Bridges that is being eyed as the next big (successful) fantasy saga. With Godzilla and Pacific Rim, Legendary is already showing its skill in discerning with the movie market wants: creative, well-done blockbusters without all the formulaic Michael Bay-esque explosions. The studio seems to have a solid future ahead.