Adam Wingard is a director who has made the most out of the opportunities he’s been given. “You’re Next” quietly made a killing at the box office and launched his career, even if it was viewed as a relative disappointment at the time. Then, after directing his cult flick “The Guest,” he made his way to much bigger things in the form of not one but two “Godzilla” movies as part of Warner Bros. and Legendary’s MonsterVerse, beginning with 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong.” The films were hugely successful, but Wingard has at least one thing he dislikes about his entries in the franchise.
I recently had the good fortune of seeing Wingard’s latest movie “Onslaught,” which looks like a secret sequel to “The Guest.” During a post-screening Q&A, Wingard was discussing how much he loves the score for the movie, which was provided by composer Matthew Pusti. That dovetailed into what Wingard didn’t like about working on “Godzilla vs. Kong” and 2024’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” Here’s what he had to say about it:
“After doing the ‘Godzilla’ movies, where I felt like I was able to bring a lot of myself to it, but the thing that I kind of didn’t enjoy the most, really, was the fact that I wasn’t able to put what I think was my stamp on the music. We had some songs, we had some electronic stuff. Where my heart really lies is much more in that ’80s, John Carpenter […] kind of vibe.”
The “Godzilla vs. Kong” soundtrack was composed by Junkie XL, aka. Tom Holkenborg. He returned to tackle “The New Empire,” with some help from Antonio Di Iorio. But if Wingard had it entirely his way, that’s not how things would have gone down.
Warner Bros.Adam Wingard wanted to work with Matthew Pusti on “Godzilla vs. Kong.” The latter had previously served as an uncredited member of the music department on Wingard’s “Death Note,” in addition to some other projects. But Wingard ultimately had to defer to Legendary and WB’s wishes. As he explained:
“At one point, I actually tried to get Matt to do the score for ‘Godzilla vs. Kong.’ That was when I was first coming in there and getting my ass kicked for the first time by a big studio. I went to them and I was like, ‘I want this guy to do it.’ They hired him on to do pre-viz for the film, he scored the pre-viz for the movie. It just got to a point where it wasn’t even Legendary, it was kind of a combination of Legendary and Warner Bros.”
“At a certain point, there’s just a workflow thing,” Wingard concluded. “They’re like, ‘You can choose from three f*****g guys that we trust, and that’s how it’s gonna be.'”
For whatever it’s worth, the decisions that were made worked out. “Godzilla vs. Kong” battled the pandemic box office and won, becoming one of the first true blockbusters after theaters reopened their doors en masse in 2021. Then, with the sequel, Wingard became the first director to helm more than one MonsterVerse movie.
“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is currently the highest-grossing “Godzilla” movie ever, having grossed over $570 million worldwide. It may not have been exactly what Wingard wanted, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Still, that may explain why he’s not returning for 2027’s “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova,” which has Grant Sputore (“I Am Mother”) at the helm.
“Onslaught” hits theaters on September 4, 2026.
