When Does "Kong: Skull Island" (2017) Take Place?
"Kong: Skull Island" is an adventure horror (kaiju) film written by Max Borenstein with Dan Gilroy, Derek Connolly, and John Gatins [loosely remaking "King Kong" (1933) by James Creelman with Ruth Rose, Merian C. Cooper, and Edgar Wallace] and released in a public theater February 28th, 2017. (Wide release was March 10th, 2017.)
It takes place on the fictional MonsterVerse Universe timeline in the year:
We know this because, as the opening credits end, there is immediately a time setting title card that reads “1973”.
1973 AD
We know this because, as the opening credits end, there is immediately a time setting title card that reads “1973”.
Furthermore, multiple characters make reference to being veterans of the famous and tragic American War in Vietnam and an early scene includes characters witnessing a broadcast from United States of America President Richard M. Nixon announcing the withdrawal of troops and the effective end of the war. This happened in the real world on January 23rd, 1973 AD.
Additionally, the film's prologue opens before the credits with a place and time setting title card that reads "SOMEWHERE OVER THE PACIFIC OCEAN… 1944" and sets up a 1944 AD World War II-era element that returns in the main action of the film. (World War II ended in 1945 AD.)
It is the chronologically earliest official film in the MonsterVerse Universe (a first chronological film to feature King Kong) and can be watched at its timeline point, as an extended flashback between “Godzilla” (2014) and "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (2019) or an extended flashback between "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021) [with or without the "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" (2023) TV show], or entirely separately.
