About once a month, I found myself opening an article by giving thanks to MyBookie’s oddsmakers. They are the undisputed champions of creativity in the field of entertainment betting.
If you’re looking for opportunities to wager on events that fall outside the traditional categories of sports and politics, chances are, if it’s available anywhere, you’ll find it at MyBookie.
The betting lines I’ll be discussing on this page are the perfect example.
On March 31, Godzilla vs. Kong – produced by Warner Bros and Legendary — hits movie theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. The highly-anticipated showdown between kaiju legends is happening in the Legendary MonsterVerse series, which successfully rebooted the Godzilla franchise in 2014.
Godzilla vs. Kong is the fourth film in the MonsterVerse following:
- Godzilla (2014),
- Kong: Skull Island (2017), and
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
“Legends collide in “Godzilla vs. Kong” as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.”
So, what makes MyBookie so great?
They’re taking action on Godzilla vs. Kong! – treating the battle between mythical beings as if it were any other UFC fight or boxing match. And who wouldn’t want to wager on those two behemoths brawling for kaiju supremacy?
Tomatometer Closing number on March 28, 2021
Tomatometer Closing number on 3/28
- Over/UnderOdds
- Over 74.5%+110
- Under 74.5%-140
Before we get to the super fight, there’s one other betting market of which I’d like to make you aware. Suppose you’d prefer to wager on real-life outcomes related to Godzilla vs. Kong rather than the movie’s fictional events. In that case, you can bet on its Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” score instead.
You’re betting on the Tomatometer, the average score determined by professional movie critics, not the audience score.
Here are the Tomatometer scores from the previous three installments:
- Godzilla (2014) – 76%
- Kong: Skull Island (2017) – 75%
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) – 42%
The first film in the Monsterverse series used footage of Godzilla sparingly before the third act. It did a phenomenal job building tension while the threat of the giant beasts loomed in the background. Godzilla was also shot brilliantly.
The halo jump scene is one of the most beautiful cinematic experiences of my life, watching it in IMAX 3-D.
Kong: Skull Island received similar support from the Tomatometer despite an abundance of monster fights and a faster pace. Reading the reviews from when it was released, many of the top critics gave the film extra points for what one reviewer called “truly exceptional visuals.”
Godzilla: King of the Monsters was much heavier on monster vs. monster battles. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Rodan all played prominent roles in the war for Titan supremacy – it was more akin to a Marvel movie than the first MonsterVerse reboot.
As one might expect, the professional reviewers appreciate human drama and patiently building to the payoff than long stretches of CGI-heavy, city-leveling rock-em sock-em brawling between monsters.
Judging by the title and the film’s general concept, Godzilla vs. Kong will probably resemble King of the Monsters.
Between Kong, Godzilla, and Mechagodzilla (more on that later), there’s too much city-demolishing conflict to resolve for this sequel to use the Titans as sparingly as in the first movie.
Expect a substantial gap between the Tomatometer and audience score, with the former being at least 20 percent lower.
Who Will Be Final Winner at the End of the Movie?
Who Will Be Final Winner at the End of the Movie?
- MatchupOdds
- Kong-300
- Godzilla+200
Who cares what snooty movie reviewers think about this movie? All that really matters is who wins: Kong or Godzilla?
To find the answer, I’ve dedicated far more time to analyzing trailers and searching for leaks than I’d ever care to admit. Fortunately, it’s paid off – there’s some excellent information about the movie’s plot out there, beyond two giant monsters fighting.
In recent interviews, Adam Wingard, the director of Godzilla vs. Kong, has provided valuable insight into how he’s approached the matchup. Let’s start with how he views both mythical Titans, respectively.
“I see him as not just an animal,” Wingard said in a recent interview with Total Film magazine. “He’s the gunfighter without the gunfight. He’s this over-the-hill action hero who is not in a great place in his life. The way I always look at my version of Kong: In Kong: Skull Island, in the ’70s, he’s basically Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. In my version, this is Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. He’s at the end of his rope. He’s not having a great time. But when action calls, he’s always still ready to step up and take it on!”
Wingard’s description of Kong seems to imply that the ape is this movie’s protagonist.
It’s also worth noting he compares the monster from Skull Island to Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven – a retired outlaw who’s forced to tap into his past nastiness to avenge a friend’s death. The old gunslinger prevails, which could be a good sign for Kong.
“I like how Godzilla’s a character who’s a pendulum in terms of his personality,” he says. “He swings back and forth between being a heel and the good guy. I was really excited that I got to do the first Legendary Godzilla where he’s kind of seen as the heel of the movie. And so, by proxy, Kong is going to feel a bit more like the hero. I think that fans of both of them will be able to cheer them on equally. Both are given equal weight in the film, in their own ways.”
Godzilla is more of a tweener – sometimes a good guy, sometimes bad. That fits with predictions that the two marquee monsters scrap in the first half of the film before joining together to defeat a common enemy. Wingard outright says, “Kong is going to feel a bit more like the hero.”
Does that mean Kong will emerge as the winner?
Absolutely not – it could be misdirection.
A Definitive Winner
Prospective bettors will be thrilled to know that Wingard, the director, promises there will be a definite winner of the showdown between Kong and Godzilla.
“I felt like I would have walked away from the movie at any point if I was pushed in a corner where there wasn’t going to be a definitive winner to it,” he continued. “Part of the reason I wanted to direct this film in the first place is because I wanted to win an argument that I had with my friend back in second grade where we were arguing who would win in a fight: Godzilla or King Kong?
“I knew who I thought should win, 100 percent. And I thought my friend was 100 percent wrong. So, flash-forward 30 years, and here I am. This is the pettiest directing gig that I’ve ever taken, because it’s to win a fight with a second-grader!”
Judging by Wingard’s quotes about his feelings about the Titans, it sounds like he’s more partial to Kong than Godzilla.
He doesn’t say for sure which kaiju his second-grade self-picked, but we can infer from what he did share.
Between the director’s apparent affinity for Kong and Godzilla uncharacteristically attacking humans for some unknown reason in the trailer, one might expect the gigantic ape to be the “good guy” when they first meet.
That suggests the fight will occur early in the film, while the radioactive “King of the Monsters” is still behaving strangely.
King Kong
As for picking a winner, I believe a brief snippet in the trailer hints at the direction this film is going.
A woman explains that a war has been raging for generations—presumably between the various members of the ridiculously overgrown animal kingdom — and that Kong and Godzilla are the last two standing. Another voice asks, “Who bows to who?,” to which the narrator replies, “Kong bows to no one.”
I believe that’s a critical clue for two reasons:
- Who or what never bows to anyone?
- What’s missing from Kong’s name that’s always been there before?
A KING!!!
Kings don’t bow, and he’s historically been called “KING Kong.”
Godzilla became “King of the Monsters” by killing King Ghidorah in the aptly titled last film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Now the formerly people-friendly reptile is out of control, and it’s on Kong to step up on behalf of humanity. The director compared the gargantuan ape we see in this film to Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven – an old, past-his-prime gunfighter who’s still deadly as ever when adequately motivated.
In Eastwood’s western, the cowboys William Munny (Eastwood’s character) has been hired to kill – for disfiguring a prostitute — torture and murder the retired outlaw’s longtime friend Ned, putting his body on display outside a saloon. Munny’s violent criminal past takes over, and he slays everyone responsible for Ned’s death out of revenge.
In the Godzilla vs. Kong trailers, we see that Kong has a close connection with a young girl. I’d bet my life that Godzilla either hurts the girl or comes close while he’s still out of sorts, making things personal for the Titan from Skull Island.
We’ve seen it countless times in the King Kong movies of the past; once whatever girl/woman with which he’s in love is in imminent danger, Kong’s protective instincts kick in, and he’s unstoppable.
Joining Forces vs. Mechagodzilla
It’s a standard action movie trope to have two protagonists fight each other to satisfy fans’ questions of “who would win?” before the heroes are forced into an uneasy alliance to face a villain so powerful they can only be defeated through cooperation.
At the end of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, we see Tywin Lannister purchasing one of Ghidora’s salvaged severed heads. Thanks to some brief images in the trailer and some official merchandise from a Mexican clothing manufacturer, we can assume Ghidorah’s remains will be used to help build Mechagodzilla.
It stands to reason that the robotic kaiju – controlled by the eco-terrorist group Apex from King of the Monsters (who bought Gidorah’s head) — will be Kong and Godzilla’s mutual enemy.
Once you introduce a third party, there are numerous ways this could go:
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For example, what if Kong earns the title of “King” for destroying Mechagodzilla, not beating Godzilla? He could lose their initial tussle then save the day versus the “big bad” at the end.
Revisiting the Unforgiven storyline, what if the two protagonists become friends once the humans fix whatever is causing Godzilla’s aggression, only for the legendary Titan to be killed by his mechanized counterpart? Just like Little Bill killing Ned Logan.
Will Kong follow the same path as William Munny, who reverted into the vicious outlaw of his youth to exact his revenge?
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Kong, inspired by a sense of urgency to protect his little girl, could defeat heel Godzilla (likely only attacking human targets in response to someone weaponizing the “Orca” device that emits frequencies that can attract Titans and/or alter their behavior).
The beating could either snap Godzilla out of his trance or subdue him long enough to fix the problem. They team up to destroy Mechagodzilla, then the radioactive reptile retreats into the ocean to hibernate for a few millennia – or maybe he even dies.
However, this quote from Adam Wingard, responding to the possibility of a sequel, seems to imply both characters will be available for future storylines:
“Well, I guess like any sequel that’s up to if people are super into this one. Which, I’m biased, but I think they’ll definitely be into it. Who knows what the future holds, but if the fan enthusiasm is there, absolutely. Why would we ever want to end this if people want more?”
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In King of the Monsters, Godzilla goes nuclear, becoming so radioactive he’s melting the city around him. His entire body glows bright red like lava, and instead of shooting fire from his mouth, the Titan emits enormous nuclear shockwaves that decimate everything within a close radius. King Ghidorah’s electricity blasts no longer have any effect.
These new powers turned the tides on a previously unwinnable battle, and Godzilla became “King of the Monsters” after frying Ghidorah into dust. Assuming a Titan’s abilities are permanent once activated, there shouldn’t be any possible way for Kong to win. He shouldn’t even be able to touch Godzilla when the lizard goes nuclear.
If those radioactive powers are still available, we may see Mechagodzilla join the fight before a winner is determined, turning it into what professional wrestlers call a triple-threat match.
In that case, Kong will need the robot clone to weaken and distract Godzilla to provide enough of an opening for the not-glowing-red-with-nuclear-fire primate to deal the final blow – maybe with his awesome giant ax shown in the trailer.
All of that said, the most probable scenario is that the story follows the old action movie trope with a fight between Kong and Godzilla taking place early in the movie and then teaming up to bring down a more significant threat in the third act.
The specific details the writers will apply to that framework remain to be seen.
Otherwise, I fear the plot twist will be something stupid — like finding out the Godzilla that Kong was fighting was Mechagodzilla all along. From the minimal footage released thus far, it appears that the mechanized kaiju will look like a metallic robot. Still, we can’t be sure it doesn’t start with realistic-looking Godzilla skin before Kong exposes its inner workings.
For the sake of betting, I’m going to put my faith in Godzilla vs. Kong’s writers, producers, and director not to do anything that stupid just to score a cheap surprise.
Adam Wingard’s promise of a definitive winner is somewhat reassuring in that regard.
Who are you picking?
Will you put your money on Godzilla (+200) or Kong (-300), the favorite? A movie betting experience this epic is extraordinarily rare – we must all look deep inside ourselves to find the answer. Look deep inside yourself – is your spirit animal a lizard or an ape?
I’m confident that the writers have deliberately avoided attaching “King” to the front of Kong’s name in any of the MonsterVerse movies to date. Godzilla took the throne from Ghidorah in the last installment; it makes all the sense in the world for the closing moments of this film to feature one of the surviving characters dubbing the victor “King Kong.”
He will wear the crown on behalf of warm-blooded mammals everywhere!
https://www.thesportsgeek.com/blog/bet-on-the-winner-of-the-upcoming-godzilla-vs-kong-film/
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