The Making of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
by James Mottram (Author)
​
About The Book
Discover the electrifying artwork behind the action-packed blockbuster, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Dive into the creation of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire with this deluxe art book. Featuring commentary from the filmmakers, this volume explores how a team of world-class artists brought stunning creatures and epic battles to life for an all-new, big screen Monsterverse adventure. Illustrated with stunning visuals from the production, including never-before-seen concept art and storyboards, this book is the ultimate companion to one of the most highly anticipated films of 2024.

NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN IMAGERY: From all-new creatures, to stunning locations, this book offers an incredible gallery of art from Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

INTERVIEWS WITH CREATORS: Dive into the film’s intensive design process through exclusive insight from director Adam Wingard, production designer Tom Hammock, and their team of artists.

EXPERIENCE THE CREATIVE JOURNEY: Follow the development of key sequences from Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, as told through concept art and storyboards.

COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION: This book joins Insight’s other bestselling Monsterverse titles Godzilla vs. Kong: One Will Fall and Godzilla: The Art of Destruction.

About the Author
James Mottram is a film critic, journalist, and author. He has written several books on cinema, including The Making of Memento, The Sundance Kids, and, for Insight Editions, The Making of Dunkirk, Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History, The Secrets of Tenet: Inside Christopher Nolan’s Quantum Cold War, and Jurassic Park: The Ultimate Visual History. He has also contributed to numerous critical anthologies, on everything from Japanese cinema to war movies, and is a regular on movie podcast Inside Total Film. He lives in London.

Publisher: Insight Editions
Release date: June 25, 2024
Length: 224 pages
​Retail price: $60.00
Pre-order here.

Featuring exclusive concept art and insights from the filmmakers, Godzilla vs. Kong: One Will Fall is the ultimate guide to an iconic movie showdown. From creature design to on-set photography, Godzilla vs. Kong: One Will Fall captures every stage of the filmmaking process, giving you unprecedented access to the creation of a titanic movie event.

About the Author
Daniel Wallace is the author or coauthor of more than fifty books, including The Jedi Path, Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History, The World According to Spider-Man, Warcraft: Behind the Dark Portal, and The New York Times best-selling Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters. His specialty is exploring the underpinnings of popular fictional universes.

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES and INFORMATION

Prize:
1. The prize will be shipped to the contest winner so entrants must include a valid mailing address. This contest is only open to participants in the United States.
2. In the event the winner chooses not to (or cannot) accept a prize, he or she forfeits all claim to that prize, and a new winner will be chosen.
3. One entry per person. Prizes are non-transferable. No substitution of prizes allowed.

Duration of contests:
Godzilla Vs. Kong: One Will Fall The Art Of The Ultimate Battle Royale giveaway runs from May 10, 2021 until 11:59 PM on May 20, 2021.  

How to enter:
1. Submit your name, email address, and mailing address for the random drawing.
2. Be sure to write “Godzilla Vs. Kong: One Will Fall The Art Of The Ultimate Battle Royale” in the subject line of your email entry. 

Determination of winner:
1. Only contestants who have submitted the requested information will be entered in the final drawing, and will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries to determine the winner for this contest.
2. Kaiju Battle is not responsible for typographical, electronic or other errors that will affect the offering, outcome, administration of the contest or the announcement of prize. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.
3. The decision of Insight Editions and Kaiju Battle is final. Entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and by the decisions of the Kaiju Battle judge, which are final and binding in all respects.
4. The winner will be notified via email.

Just email the following info 
“Godzilla Vs. Kong: One Will Fall The Art Of The Ultimate Battle Royale” 
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to [email protected]  and you’re in the giveaway. Good luck!
(Note prize will be sent after the beginning of June 2021)

About Insight Editions
Celebrated for its unwavering dedication to quality, Insight Editions is a publisher of innovative books, journals, and collectibles that push the boundaries of creativity, design, and production. Through its acclaimed film, television, and gaming program, Insight strives to produce unique books and products that provide new ways to engage with fan-favorite characters and stories. Under the program, Insight has published books covering the worlds of Star Wars, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Destiny, Assassin's Creed, Halo, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and the Harry Potter films, among many others. Insight's award-winning art, photography, and sports titles celebrate the artistry and legacy of a wide range of subjects that include John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash, and The Rolling Stones.

By combining rich subject matter, striking visuals, and exclusive content with imaginative design and production, Insight Editions strives to create unique keepsakes that celebrate the best in pop culture and make one-of-a-kind gifts for fans of all ages.

We would like to thank Insight Edition for this opportunity to review this book.
Godzilla vs. Kong: One Will Fall: The Art of the Ultimate Battle Royale goes behind the scenes of the biggest battle in movie history, with this deluxe book that explores the art and making of Godzilla vs. Kong, and there is a key phrase in that sentence, art and making of. While the title suggest art there is more to this book but will it be enough to satisfy fans. First some of the basics, the book is split into seven sections, with some of those having sub sections, so we will take a look at each section to give some of our opinions of each.

The Ultimate Matchup, this section give the overview of the film mostly being from Adam Wingard's and Legendary's production team, like Jay Ashenfelter, and others, perspective; it also goes over some of what came before Godzilla 2014, Kong Skull Island, and the Monsterverse in general. It also goes into the early shooting of the film, locations and more, this section does not include much art but that comes later, sort of a slow burn if you will.

Monarch And Apex, this section as its title suggest is about the two key organizations in the film, it also goes in to some depth into the characters split up between Team Godzilla, Team Kong, and Monarch, the good guys section you can say, than Apex Cybernetics and those on that side. Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) has the largest section with all the others having smaller sections dedicated to them, I do wish they went more into the backstories of some like Jia (Kaylee Hottle), this section again like the previous one has very little art (but does have character pictures).

The Champ: Godzilla, this section as it is pretty clear pertains to Godzilla, it goes into some of his backstory as well as the Gulf Coast attack, there isn't a ton of information but one must remember not much has actually changed with him. We do start getting more art but it is mostly typical Godzilla being Godzilla shots, also the "Champ" designation is more based on the last film since we haven't got to the fight yet.

The Challenger: Kong, this section is where the book starts to hit its stride, it goes into Kong's development from the events of Skull Island till current day, and how much Kong is very human in his personality and nature. It also looks at Kong's design, updating and aging him, by Scanline, Weta, MPC to give him his final look in the film. Kong learning to sign was not an easy task and they used a sign language translator to help. Then there was Skull Island while we know what was seen in the film the art seems to hint at more including the Iwi with their stone wall, and how they captured Kong. Also part of this section is the Battle at Sea, it gives a lot of insight to this sequence which had to not only deal with Godzilla and Kong's first real battle but having a good portion taking place underwater. Scanline VFX did most of the work for this, they did the water sequences in The Meg, and Aquaman both which had great underwater scenes.

The Hollow Earth, this is the section that I was personally looking forward to because of the amazing visuals in the film, and I got some other interesting tidbits I didn't expect. They use ideas like Jules Vernes Journey to the Center of the Earth as inspiration. The entry point is in fact Outpost 32, Ghidorah's location from King Of The Monsters, which leads one to believe he was trying to get into the Hollow Earth. This section goes into the design if the HEAV's which at some point appear to have vehicles in them. It continues to the Geography Of Hollow Earth and it weird gravity and formations, it also starts hinting that there was sequences where the human characters were exploring Hollow Earth and the discovery of a crashed Osprey which was where Nathan Lind's brother had died. It goes into Kong's temple including the variety of designs that they came up with, and Kong's Axe or scepter if you will. It then goes into the creatures of Hollow Earth, the Warbats, Hellhawk, Shimidah (an unseen titan), Rock Critter (crab), and well Doug for lack of an official name, who is suggested to be an off shoot of Godzilla (long lost cousin maybe). This section makes up a lot from the art standpoint of the previous sections.

The Upstart: Mechagodzilla, this is another section highly looked forward to, it gives some of the backstory behind his creation, as well as his design evolution. Some designs were very slick with other very industrial, there is also a centerfold showing different angles of one design. Mechagodzilla's design went through more tweaks than any of the other Titans in the film. This section also goes into Apex Hong Kong and the Psionic Control Room (Ghidorah's skull/brain).

The Main Event, as you might expect this is the showdown we were waiting for, this section has a balance of art and text giving some information on the scene but personally I was hoping for more. Some art shots are very typical Godzilla and Kong mid fight, Kong or Godzilla in dramatic shots but feels it is missing something. There is a bit on Hong Kong but again was hoping for more like Hong Kong lit up like in the film. There is then the final battle where Godzilla and Kong team up to take down Mechagodzilla most of these shots are dark and don't give much detail, and there isn't a ton of text to balance it out. The final page has a brief recap and a pic of Godzilla and Kong face to face.

Overall the book is not bad but it has some areas where it could have been better. One issue starts right at the beginning with the title with only "Art", and not "Making Of" in it, fans may be disappointed if the expectation is for more art in it. There are certain parts that are pretty darn good, the Hollow Earth section is by far the best part, but is that enough for the price of admission so to speak, it depends. I believe part of the problem with these books is source material and it is possible Insight Editions did the best they could with that. I would say if you are art book collector and are into this genre get the book, otherwise it truly comes down to how you feel are the few good/great sections enough.