The reason the MCU can make solo films for obscure characters and why the MonsterVerse can’t.

HinikunaGoji, sonictiger,
Yeah, I wouldn't call a movie that made profit somewhere in the neighborhood of $130-$210 million a failure--False advertising or not.

It's still the only Godzilla movie (and Monsterverse flick) to cross $200M in the United States.

Well, in a critical sense.  I think G'14 is a failure in terms of story and characters (specifically referring to the handlings of Godzilla's minor screentime and the wasting of Joe Brody)

Kong: Skull Island works as it manages to do something new and completely original for the MonsterVerse, Godzilla: King of The Monsters works by at least putting more effort into an ultimately doomed sequel and giving more action but doesn't get the humans right again, and Godzilla Vs. Kong took less time and got to the point of the story and helped secure the MV for at least 2-3 sequels (possible Kong and Godzilla sequels + possible Destroy All Monsters event).

sonictiger

G14 had a good story and writing regardless of wasted potential and acting choices. Just because a story could’ve been better doesn’t mean it was bad, Endgame is a good example. There’s some problems but is still an enjoyable and satisfying film to watch.

Honestly I prefer seeing Godzilla less. 

I don’t think WB will make a DAM

That must explain you were on Monke team before GVK came out.  Endgame was a movie that I had very high expectations but I got blown out of the water because it was even better.  The MonsterVerse doesn't have that potential mainly because Godzilla and other Toho monsters aren't as well known in the west.  Which I think is why they tried to get more people drawn to it by casting Bryan Cranston in G14, Millie Bobby Brown in KOTM, and Alexander Skarsgard, Rebecca Hall, Bryan Tyree Henry, Julian Dennison, and MBB once again in GVK.

Warner Bros. doesn't seem to have enough confidence that the Titan characters alone will attract enough people, so they bait you into seeing the movie by marketing big names (that end up having minor roles in the actual movie) in trailers (Cranston in G14 and Brown in KOTM) or even their names on the credits on the posters seems to be oddly enough to draw suckers in.  GVK played it's marketing cards correctly by giving people what was advertised in the trailers, a big slugfest that's a visual delight and better than Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice in every conceivable way possible.

"and better than Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice in every conceivable way possible."

High bar.

I can’t think of a monster movie without popular celebrities from their time. Even the Showa era had the popular (at the time) peanuts playing the Shobijin. Even Marvel uses popular actors and actresses instead of “relying” on their characters. This probably plays into why people get excited at new characters and what celebrities play them.

Gman, what are you implying.

At least GVK's fight had a winner and there was no "Martha" moment.  Also, the team-up made more sense and there were multiple bouts.

sonictiger

Its true, you set a low bar for endgame to be better than Batman vs Superman. Lots of things can be better than that

HinikunaGoji,
Like a colonoscopy.

*WHEEZE*

But in all honesty, Godzilla Vs. Kong showed how a Hollywood VS movie can work.  BVS was the peak of why VS movies are rarely attempted these days.

sonictiger

I think the main issue with Batman V Superman was that it tried to force in too may plot points at once, in an attempt to catch up with Marvel. It tried to set up too many things in one movie, like Batman's origin, the aftermath of Man of Steel, Batman meeting and fighting Superman, the introduction to Wonder Woman, setting up Justice League, Doomsday, The death of Superman, and teasing the revival of Superman. It felt like these plot points should have been split up into five movies rather than one, because of this the movie ended up feeling overly cluttered.

The issue with Doomsday is that there isn't really any set up for him, he just shows up at the end of the movie so that Batman and Superman can fight something. In contrast, Mechagodzilla in GvK does have build up to its reveal and plays a big role in the story (if you think about it, Mechagodzilla actually causes the events of the film to take place).

True, true.  The issue with the MechaGodzilla plot is that it felt a smidge bit underused until the first act was over.  And wouldn't you know it, that plot contained the film's most underused characters (Madison Russell and Ren Seriwaza).