The kaijū eiga saw a strong global renaissance during the second decade of the twenty-first century. Films like Love and Monsters (Michael Matthews, 2020), Tremors: Shrieker Island (Don Michael Paul, 2020), Monster Hunter (Paul W. S. Anderson, 2021), and Notzilla (Mitch Teemley, 2019) have all made the most of trends for giant monster films. This chapter, however, will focus on a cycle of transnational productions, including Pacific Rim, its sequel and The Great Wall (Zhang Yimou, 2016), that have helped to build global interest in giant monster spectacle. These films, along with the MonsterVerse series, encompassing Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, all have a shared production company: Legendary Entertainment. This chapter examines their attempt to create a Marvel-style shared universe for their monster films that resembles aspects of 1960s Tōhō films such as King Kong vs. Godzilla, King Kong Escapes, and the wider universe implied by the plethora of monsters resident on Monster Island. The manufacturing of a transnational genre in this regard is cyclical, from the sharing of monsters across national borders to the collaboration between Asian and American producers. However, the kaijū genre's breakthrough as a mainstream cinematic genre in the west is now more in keeping with modern blockbuster production tactics of transnational co-production, franchising and reliance on CGI spectacle. This chapter explores the networking of the narratives in the MonsterVerse, including its transmedia elements.

Furthermore, this chapter examines the globalising transnational strategies behind the creation of this wave of kaijū films. Legendary’s deals with Universal and Warner Bros. strongly focused on the development of transmedia properties, alongside Legendary's access to transnational networks, particularly in Asia. The chapter takes a close look at Legendary, who were bought out by Dalian Wanda in 2016. Wanda are a major Chinese conglomerate with interests in property and tourism, and the owners of the world's largest chain of cinemas. The acquisition of Legendary is a major part of their convergent strategy. The Great Wall is an important text here, as a film reminiscent of previous transnational blockbusters, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000), with its wuxia pian (martial hero) setting crossed with the monster genre.