Technically, it’s against the law to encourage people to bet on something with a predetermined outcome, but the fine print obviously doesn’t apply to a pair of hulking CGI monsters. Godzilla vs. Kong arrives in theaters and on HBO Max three weeks from tomorrow, and as the marketing campaign enters the final stretch, fans are being urged to pick a side.
Hopefully the real winners are the audience, because Adam Wingard’s monster mash has been riding such a huge wave of buzz, hype and momentum that it really needs to deliver. Not only does the future of the entire MonsterVerse depend on it, but Godzilla vs. Kong promises the sort of effects-driven and crowd-pleasing big budget escapism that people want more than ever after the year we’ve had to endure.
Wingard already admitted that the titular smackdown will end with a definitive winner, and the latest odds from bookmaker Bovada have placed Kong in the driving seat. Of course, there’s a 50/50 chance that it’ll happen, so it’s not as if there are going to be a flurry of bets on Mothra getting its wing raised in victory, but it’s always fun to speculate.
One thing we can guarantee is that the real losers are going to be insurance companies around the world, with Godzilla vs. Kong poised to leave a trail of destruction in its wake that’s going to run up quite the volume of paperwork, as the iconic monsters are set to embark on a global scrap for supremacy that could change the world as we know it, with only a small band of intrepid human heroes capable of putting an end to a battle for the ages.
