Cruella star Emma Stone has laughed off early comparisons between Disney’s upcoming Cruella and Warner Bros.’ 2019 monster hit Joker but has praised fellow Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, who earned an Academy Award for his performance in the role. “It’s very different from Joker in many ways,” Stone explained to Total Film. “I would never even remotely compare myself to Joaquin Phoenix. I wish I was more like him.” [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/15/disneys-cruella-sneak-peek-trailer] Cruella director Craig Gillespie appreciates that the public may have spotted some basic parallels but explained that Cruella is a different type of film in a number of ways. “There are some really deep, emotional things that Cruella’s dealing with that send her to the villainous darker side. So in that sense, it is [similar],” says Gillespie. “But it’s definitely its own thing. Just to sort of reframe Cruella, I thought it was important to show this darker side of her. But there’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of humor in it. There’s a lot of absolutely delightful banter and rhythm to the style of it, which is different from Joker.” Disney recently confirmed that Cruella will be available on Disney Plus Premier Access the same day as its theatrical release, on May 28. Reports that Stone was in early talks to play the iconic Disney villain and Dalmatian aficionado in a live-action film first emerged way back in January 2016.

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Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.

While Godzilla vs. Kong will undoubtedly settle who is the true king of monsters, fans expecting the Hollywood blockbuster tradition of a post-credits scene setting up a sequel will be left waiting... sort of.

According to an interview at Syfy Wire, director Adam Wingard has said that footage previously planned for a post-credits scene has instead been used elsewhere in the film.

“We actually shot a post-credits scene but then we ended up using it in the movie," Wingard told Syfy Wire. "[It was] one of those things where we shot it as one idea, and we got into editorial and realized 'we need a moment at a certain point in the movie,' [so] we ended up taking that footage and using it in a different context in the movie and it really, really worked for us."

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Wingard declined to reveal what footage was originally meant as the post-credits scene, so fans will have to use their film school instincts to guess.

Previous films in the modern King Kong and Godzilla franchises have teased creatures and plot points, with the post-credits scene from Godzilla: King of Monsters tying into Godzilla vs. Kong. Wingard implies that whether or not the Monsterverse movies continue onward will depend on how Godzilla vs. Kong performs at the box office.

"I think it's 100 percent the right choice [not to have a post-credits scene] because this is the crossroads for the Monsterverse," Wingard said. “Audiences have to vote if they want to see more of these or not. If people show up and like the movie, then there will be more. I think it's better not to box ourselves into any corners, because ultimately, going forward, these movies need to be calibrated by what people like about the films. Not in a tired studio kind of way, but in a realistic, grounded 'what are people responding to? What are they responding to?' [kind of way]."

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IGN gave Godzilla vs. Kong a seven out of 10, calling it a “fitting reunion” for two of cinema’s greatest titans. While IGN’s reviewer Zaki Hasan says that the movie features plenty of monster-on-monster combat, Wingard says that future movies might get even further away from the human narratives that persist throughout each franchise.

"If there is a sequel, we're going to get less into a human storyline and more of a hyper-realistic animated movie kind of vibe to these things," Wingard said. "I think we can start leaning more into the monsters."

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Godzilla vs. Kong was released on HBO Max and in theaters on March 31. Here’s how to watch Godzilla vs. Kong now. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/Ghidora fanboy for IGN.