Kong: Skull Island Delayed

Source: Video WatchBlog

The first ever battle between Doctor Strange and the world's fiercest primate will have to wait for another day.
Legendary Pictures have this week announced a delay in the release schedule of their upcoming blockbuster prequel to Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of the 1933 classic King Kong. Originally dubbed Skull Island, the next instalment in Legendary's newly-envisioned Monsters Cinematic Universe (seriously, don't ask) will take place years before the original film's eponymous tree-climbing warrior came face-to-face with the damsel in distress who would ultimately (if inadvertently) bring about his untimely downfall.

If the idea of a different MCU sounds rather enticing, though, then it'd probably be worth you taking a seat at this point, dear reader. Despite the fact that this at the very least intriguing spiritual predecessor - which will hence forth go by the revised name of Kong: Skull Island - will supposedly inhabit the same narrative realm as this Autumn's Dracula Untold and other upcoming reboots based around long-beloved monstrous creatures such as the Mummy, unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, its inter-movie connections are likely to be tenuous - if not non-existent - at times due to the semi-isolated timelines necessitated by their disparate narratives, meaning that the chances of an Avengers-esque team-up are second to none for now. Indeed, the just-released initial plot synopsis does little to dispel the sense that the production team are more focused on crafting their own dense universe than they are on foreshadowing future Monsters romps: "[The movie] will fully immerse audiences in the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island [hopefully it isn't just us to whom that premise sounds somewhat familiar!]. Legendary's story honours the foundations of existing King Kong lore, but places it in an entirely new, distinct timeline." 

With that being said, now that Jordan Vogt-Roberts' latest directorial effort has moved out of the crosshairs of Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange, the latter of which has evidently gained enough marketing traction to worry Legendary into relocating Kong from November 2016 to March 2017, and now that we know both Tom Hiddleston (better known as Thor, Avengers Assemble and Thor: The Dark World's near-invulnerable God of Mischief, Loki) and J.K. Simmons (or as we've always referred to him, Spider-Man's very own J. Jonah Jameson) are on board as central cast members, the odds finally seem to be shifting into the project's favour (although nothing's certain until the trailers hit the net and the film itself hits auditoriums, naturally). Nevertheless, with almost three years to go until everyone's favourite oversized ape graces the big-screen for the eighth time, just about anything could happen, hence why we'd suggest you keep a watchful eye on this blog in order to stay abreast of each and every major development which occurs in the meantime.

Kong: Skull Island ignites its torch and commences its search for the truth behind one of cinema's most alluring (if terrifying) settings in cinemas worldwide on March 10th, 2017.