‘Godzilla King of the Monsters’ ‘Six Billion Dollar Man’ delayed, ‘Shining’ sequel ‘Doctor Sleep’ moved up

Warner Bros. has made a couple of release date announcements, delaying two films, bumping up one film.

The biggest news is the Godzilla sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, will now open on May 31, 2019, in the thick of next summer’s blockbusters. The project gets pushed back from the slated March 22, 2019 release.

This puts the film in crowded company, going up against an untitled Blumhouse movie and a week after Disney launches Aladdin.

Michael Dougherty will direct the film, which will be an important part of the Legendary’s MonsterVerse, which was further established in Kong: Skull Island.

The plot is being kept vague but is said to detail the rise of additional monsters around the world, including classic Toho studio creatures like Mothra and Rodan. King Ghidorah has been confirmed, and is being played (via the magic of motion capture) by Jason Liles, along with 2 other actors for each of the heads.

Godzilla 2 also stars Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, and Vera Farmiga and will serve as a precursor to the Adam Wingard-directed Godzilla vs. Kong.

Also delayed, The Six Billion Dollar Man, which has Mark Wahlberg set to star, but which has now been pushed from May 2019 to June 5, 2020.

Director Damian Szifron (Wild Tales) exited the project earlier this month, just as filming was intended to begin later this year. Warner Bros. had hoped to find a replacement quickly and keep the film on schedule, but it appears that’s not happening.

Warner Bros. has also now slated Doctor Sleep to open on January 24, 2020.

The film is based on Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining and picks up with Danny Torrance as a middle-aged adult who has inherited his father’s more negative tendencies.

Oculus and Gerald’s Game filmmaker Mike Flanagan is set to direct, and while January used to be a dumping ground, it’s now become a solid box office launching pad for certain kinds of movies, especially of the horror variety.

Split memorably launched on January 20th and went on to gross over $270 million worldwide.