Big Bad Classic Movie Beasties Best Box Office (say it 3 times fast)!

Donkey Kong. Kaiju. The Iron Giant. Movie monsters are resurging in a big way and it means big global numbers for recent releases, Rampage, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and Ready Player One.

After many years of human(oid) action teams like the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Justice League and Thor's squad (lol) dominating the box office, 1980's style animal and robotronics heroes and villains are dominating the screen once again.

Ready Player One's Kong still scared the pants off me as he mercilessly pounded racers. The rusty Iron Giant's hulking, yet placid presence instantly transported me back to the 90's 2D animated film (considered risky at the time). And oh boy, did that monstro kaiju emerging from the sea in Pacific Rim make me gulp (like the beastie from Pirates of the Caribbean and the super beastie from How to Train Your Dragon).

I haven't seen Rampage yet (my eyes needed a VFX break) but all numbers from Variety point upward. After all, can you really go wrong with an Albino Gorilla and an overgrown wolf?

As far as appeal, it could be a much needed respite from the chattery but snappy and sometimes excessive dialogue from human cast. Perhaps fans were just ready for a character big enough and bad enough to fill an entire screen. One millennial I talked to was fascinated by Donkey Kong's simple enraged reactions to well...everything.

It looks like truly fantastic beasts are back as part of the accepted milieu for movies. Jurassic World's (aka Jurassic Park's) classic dinos will be back this June to chew up a few more hapless humans. A new, much anticipated horrible dino will join the classic Cretaceous creatures.

So the beasts are back and there's going to be trouble - but apparently not for the box office.

As a content creator, your budget may not cover creating a humongous VFX superbeastie but here are a couple of tricks to launch your next beast movie.

1) XCU (extreme close up) of your dog's molars.

2) XCU of someone's large nostrils.

3) Jump Cuts to hairy animals (or people in fur coats) quickly passing in front of the camera.

Did this help you? Let me know in the comments! Happy VFX monster making!