GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE Had the Kaiju Phosphera Lined Up for the Movie Just in Case
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire had a very good weekend at the box office on its opening weekend. Audiences definitely flocked to theaters to watch this movie on the big screen.
The movie saw Godzilla and Kong team up to take down another giant creature named the Skay King, who was looking to wreak havoc on the human world, just like Godzilla and Kong have done in the past. There were also a few other monsters in the mix.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet there are some Spoilers ahead. Just in case one of the main monsters they wanted to bring into the mix wasn’t available, the creative team had a backup plan.
In the third act of the film Mothra, who was thought to have been killed in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, is awoken, and she helps Godzilla and Kong unite to take down the Skay King. But, if they weren’t able to get Mothra in the film, director Adam Wingard had another creature lined up.
During an interview with The Wrap, Wingard said: "There was briefly another character called Phosphera that we had in place of Mothra. But Mothra was always what the character was written around.”
He added: “And there’s this false narrative online that this other character tested badly, and then we were like, 'Let's get Mothra.' The plan was always Mothra. But we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get Mothra. And once we tested the movie, we had the previous version of that, and by then, things had cleared up and we were able to do Mothra."
Wingard went on to explain: "It would have been really dumb to not do Mothra because if you look at this other creature, it did and said everything the way Mothra does things, but it would have been another creature. It would have been very disappointing if, ultimately, we wouldn't have been able to land that. I don't like that some people think that it wasn't the plan all along. If you look at the very first draft of the script, it always says Mothra."
You can see Phosphera in the film in the form of a wall carving inside the Iwi temple in the Hollow Earth. Phosphera's name is derived from the Greek Phōsphoros, which translates to "light bringer".
In the film, “The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.”
The film stars Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong), Brian Tyree Henry (Godzilla vs. Kong), Dan Stevens (Legion), Kaylee Hottle (Godzilla vs. Kong), Alex Ferns (The Batman) and Fala Chen (Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings).