MonsterVerse<\/a> has generated more than $2.5 billion at the global box office across five feature films, including \u201cGodzilla,\u201d \u201cKong: Skull Island,\u201d \u201cGodzilla: King of the Monsters,\u201d \u201cGodzilla vs. Kong\u201d and \u201cGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire.\u201d A sixth installment, \u201cGodzilla x Kong: Supernova,\u201d hits theaters in March 2027. The franchise\u2019s Apple TV series, \u201cMonarch: Legacy of Monsters,\u201d is now in its second season.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cGodzilla has been around for 70-plus years, Kong as a character has been around for 100 years,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cAs far as the fan base goes, we get everybody who knew Godzilla and Kong when they were kids but are now in their 50s, 60s and older. Our new films are starting to appeal to younger kids and teens, so the audience base has grown the most, and it\u2019s the furthest along of all of our franchises.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLotte World is undergoing a renovation, and the company committed to making the Legendary IP the centerpiece of that work, according to Ngo.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cLotte is such an incredible partner in the region, in the territory,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cLotte World specifically has been around for a very long time. It\u2019s very well known, and it\u2019s beloved in South Korea, but also around Asia regionally. This is going to be Lotte\u2019s biggest investment as a ride in the park. It\u2019s not just a ride, it\u2019s going to be the marquee ride of the park and really the main attraction for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFrom the moment guests come to line up, they are being recruited to join Monarch,\u201d Ngo adds, referring to the fictional organization that tracks the franchise\u2019s giant creatures. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of our opening human touchpoint for the guests to be able to step foot into this world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tGuests then board a HEAV, the Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle featured in the films, before encountering Kong.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cKong really guides them through Hollow Earth and all the experiences, while also protecting them against all the dangers that they would find in Hollow Earth,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cThere are massive screens, a lot of amazing media that we\u2019ve created with our partner. There are physical sets as well for our Titans and animatronics at massive, massive scale. The combination of real-world things with the media that works together in order to enhance the guest experience makes it extremely immersive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tNgo describes the ride as one piece of a larger strategy spanning gaming, consumer products and publishing.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOur gaming reaches our consumers on a digital level on the screen. Consumer products really allow them to bring it home and experience it at home. Our comics and publishing program allow them to expand on their stories and use their imagination to go to places that may not be on screen yet,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cFor location-based entertainment, it brings them into the whole world on a physical level and really gets to put them in the middle of that world. The strategy of being able to be where our consumers are really completes that cycle for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe ride\u2019s development also involved Legendary\u2019s film division directly, according to Ngo.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cLegendary is very nimble and tightly connected. The filmmakers really sit one floor down from where my team and I sit, so we run up and down talking to them every step of the way,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cThey suggest certain storyline tweaks in order to better tie it into the next film. It\u2019s not just that they see a final product and approve it or not. They work with us every step of the way, and they try to tie so many touchpoints back into the film, back into the comics. This is becoming a very much interconnected world and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLegendary maintains a dedicated Beijing-based team covering the Asia territory, Ngo says.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe Asia territory is extremely important to a lot, if not all, of the projects that we work on. A lot of our IP and the type of movies that we make resonate so well within that market,\u201d he says. \u201cMonsterVerse, for example, is massive, massive in Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tNgo frames the Lotte World ride as a test case for adapting Legendary\u2019s characters to physical spaces.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s being the first to go to market. It will show people how amazing this IP is to be adapted into this format, and that it\u2019s doable,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cThe biggest challenge in the past, especially for \u2018Pacific Rim\u2019 and MonsterVerse, has been the scale of our characters and the scale of our world. It\u2019s an amazing thing to experience in location-based entertainment, but it\u2019s also very hard to execute. Now that we\u2019ve been able to execute it in this way and it looks incredible, I think people will start to embrace it more in the LBE [location-based entertainment] space.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSouth Korea\u2019s broader entertainment profile factored into the decision as well, Ngo says.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSouth Korea is just really on the world stage on multiple levels, from manufacturing to entertainment to exporting amazing IP\u2026 I don\u2019t think it was new for us,\u201d Ngo says, noting Legendary had already worked with Korean entertainment IP and fashion partners in the past. \u201cI think the opportunity would just allow us to create a stronger foothold in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tNgo says Legendary has explored location-based concepts for other franchises in its library, including \u201cDune,\u201d \u201cPacific Rim,\u201d \u201cDetective Pikachu\u201d and \u201cEnola Holmes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSome may be a large theme park ride or attraction, or even a whole land, and others may be more pop-up and dining experiences, or escape rooms and murder-mystery experiences where it makes sense,\u201d Ngo says. \u201cI think all of them have the IP DNA in order to expand into the space. It\u2019s just depending on timing, where the actual opportunities are in terms of locations and what people are looking for in terms of markets.\u201d Legendary is also set to launch a new franchise, \u201cStreet Fighter,\u201d this October.<\/p>\n
\n\tAsked whether the definition of franchise management has fundamentally shifted as audiences increasingly expect brands across multiple platforms, Ngo says: \u201cI don\u2019t know if the definition of it has changed. Studios like Disney and other larger studios have had these strategies for many decades, so I don\u2019t necessarily think it\u2019s a new concept\u2026 We\u2019ve been able to sustain this for over a decade now with the MonsterVerse, and we\u2019re building \u2018Dune\u2019 to that level as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tNgo says he views Legendary\u2019s position five years from now as an extension of where the studio already stands today.<\/p>\n
\n\tOn whether he sees Legendary primarily as a film studio or as a broader entertainment company, Ngo says: \u201cI would argue that we\u2019re already there. I think the volume of scaling up and putting out more franchises is probably the goal. We have the infrastructure, we\u2019re already working in all of these different areas and franchises to create amazing experiences for our fans. We\u2019ve always been a very fan-first type of studio. We know what our fans want, we give it to them, and we delight them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/p>\n