The rise of the internet has reduced the official tie-in novelization to an afterthought, but back in the olden days when print media was still the number one source of information, fans flocked to purchase paperback adaptations of the biggest movies. Not only do they frequently offer different perspectives on the story, but the books can often include additional and sometimes hugely important plot information that’s either left over from earlier drafts of the script or discarded on the cutting room floor.
Godzilla vs. Kong already boasts one tie to a previous MonsterVerse novelization, after it was revealed in Godzilla: King of the Monsters‘ accompanying tome that Ken Watanabe’s Ishiro Serizawa had a son named Ren. Fast forward to next month’s epic clash of the Titans and we’ll see Shun Oguri playing the role, with plenty of theories making the rounds that he could be following in his father’s footsteps much differently by being responsible for the creation of Mechagodzilla.
The novelization for the upcoming MonsterVerse movie will be released on April 6th, one week after Godzilla vs. Kong stomps into theaters and onto HBO Max, and if the sheer number of views racked up by the trailer is going to be any indication, the iconic kaiju could be the stars of the first blockbuster in a long time to take a sizeable bite out of the box office, which might be the shot in the arm that the industry has been crying out for.
The Godzilla vs. Kong paperback hails from Greg Keyes, who also penned the official tie-in for King of the Monsters, and is well-versed in adapting big name genre properties having delivered books based on the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, as well as Independence Day, The Avengers, The Elder Scrolls and Star Wars. As such, it’ll definitely be worth checking out.