12 Best Godzilla and/or King Kong Movies
With 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' releasing on March 29th, Moviefone is counting down the top 12 Godzilla and/or King Kong movies of all time!
(L to R) Godzilla and Kong in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Godzilla and King Kong are cinematic characters that have thrilled audiences since they first appeared on the big screen back in 1956, and 1933, respectively.
Since then there have been several movies made about each character, including director Roland Emmerich's 1998 'Godzilla,' director Peter Jackson's 2005 'King Kong,' and last year's Japanese film 'Godzilla Minus One,' which recently won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
(L to R) Masaki Takahashi, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya and Tatsuji Nojima accept the Oscar® for Visual Effects during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Credit/Provider: Phil McCarten ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.
There have also been attempts to combine the two characters into the same film, such as the current MonsterVerse series of movies that includes 2014's 'Godzilla,' 2017's 'Kong: Skull Island,' 2019's 'Godzilla: King of Monsters,' and 2021's 'Godzilla vs. Kong,' as well as the new sequel 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,' which opens in theaters on March 29th.
Not to mention the excellent Apple TV+ series 'Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,' which takes place within the MonsterVerse and premiered its first season last year.
In honor of 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's theatrical release, Moviefone is counting down the 12 best Godzilla and King Kong movies of all time, including the latest!
Let's begin!
12. 'King Kong' (1976)
Jessica Lange in 1976's 'King Kong.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.
In this remake of the 1933 classic, an oil company expedition disturbs the peace of a giant ape and brings him back to New York to exploit him.
11. 'Godzilla' (1998)
1998's 'Godzilla.' Photo: TriStar Pictures.
French nuclear tests irradiate an iguana into a giant monster that viciously attacks freighter ships in the Pacific Ocean. A team of experts, including Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick), conclude that the oversized reptile is the culprit. Before long, the giant lizard is loose in Manhattan as the US military races to destroy the monster before it reproduces and it's spawn takes over the world.
10. 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' (2019)
2019's 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' Photo: Legendary Pictures.
Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species, thought to be mere myths, rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.
9. 'Son of Godzilla' (1969)
1967's 'Son of Godzilla.' Photo: Toho.
Reporter Goro Maki (Akira Kubo) stumbles upon scientists conducting weather experiments on Sollgel Island in the South Seas. He discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantis and a woman named Saeko who's been cast away since the death of her father. The pair soon find a helpless infant monster that Godzilla must adopt and learn to raise as one of his own.
Son of Godzilla
8. 'Godzilla' (2014)
2024's 'Godzilla.' Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe (Bryan Cranston). Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.
7. 'Godzilla vs. Kong' (2021)
2021's 'Godzilla vs. Kong.' Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity’s fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages.
6. 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' (2024)
(L to R) Godzilla and Kong in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This latest entry in the Monsterverse franchise follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins, and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
5. 'King Kong' (2005)
Naomi Watts in 2005's 'King Kong.' Photo: Universal Pictures.
In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer (Jack Black) coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady (Naomi Watts).
4. 'Kong: Skull Island' (2017)
(L to R) Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson in 'Kong: Skull Island.' Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Explore the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.
3. 'Godzilla, King of the Monsters!' (1956)
1956's 'Godzilla, King of the Monsters!' Photo: Toho Co., Ltd.
During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.
Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
2. 'King Kong' (1933)
1933's 'King Kong.'
Adventurous filmmaker, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world has seen before. Alongside his leading lady Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and his first mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), they arrive on an island and discover a legendary creature said to be neither beast nor man. Denham captures the monster to displayed on Broadway as Kong, the eighth wonder of the world.
King Kong
1. 'Godzilla Minus One' (2023)
'Godzilla Minus One' opens in U.S. theaters on December 1st.
Postwar Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
