How Godzilla vs Kong tried to avoid comparisons to travel to the center of the Earth

In an interview in 2021 RogerEbert.com“Godzilla vs. Kong” director Adam Wingard discussed bringing Hollow Earth to life while being careful not to draw comparisons to “Journey to the Center of the Earth”:

“Well, the trickiest thing about it is when you look at it on the site, it’s basically, “Oh, it’s a Journey to the Center of the Earth movie, right? And it was a big dirty word. Nobody ever mentioned Journey to the Center of the Earth ” in offices. Because what it conjures up in your head is dark caves and oversized mushrooms and clichés like that.“

Whether it’s the 1959 film or the 2008 3D reboot starring Brendan Fraser, adaptations of Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” tend to amplify what already exists. Large mushrooms, dinosaurs, crabs and similar creatures fill the void at the center of the earth in a cave-like landscape. The sci-fi elements are still quite imaginative when it comes to Hollow Earth, but Wingard has rightly deviated from the established norm. Instead, in “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the center of the Earth is much more fantastical in nature, clearing the way for a whole new world of possibilities.