Godzilla stomping back to theaters

[Tribal Warfare]

Godzilla stomping back to theaters via Legendary

By Ace Fernandez
Well, well, well ... look who's getting back in fighting shape.

Everyone's favorite gigantic, havoc-wreaking lizard, Godzilla, is on his way back to the big screen via Legendary Pictures, which has acquired the rights to develop and produce a new feature based on the iconic Toho Co. character. Warner Bros. will co-produce, co-finance and distribute through its deal with Legendary, and Toho will roll out the film in Japan.

Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers are also producing; Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira and Doug Davison will be executive producers on the project.

The last major Godzilla outing, an American, New York-set version from Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, grossed $376 million worldwide in 1998 despite fielding equally major criticism. Toho quickly produced "Godzilla 2000," in which the big beast took on an evil UFO, the following year.

But the Godzilla franchise juggernaut has survived decades of permutations (he first appeared in 1954), dozens of films, books, video games and merchandising tie-ins and seems perpetually ready to rear up again for new audiences.

The new film is shooting for a 2012 release.

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary. "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop culturally relevant for as long as it has."

Added Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, "Godzilla is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which Warner Bros. and our partners at Legendary are best known."

The two companies have partnered on such global properties as "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," "Superman Returns" and "The Hangover," which have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. Together, they have a remake of "Clash of the Titans" stomping into theaters Friday.

[KcMizzou]

My son's B-day is today. Taking both boys for the early show tomorrow, with the full IMAX 3D treatment. Can't wait.

[Ceej]

How was Cranston's performance?

My fiancée and I are currently watching Breaking Bad and the guy is tremendously underrated.

He's one of the main reasons I've convinced my fiancée to go see Godzilla with me.

[BigRichard]

Originally Posted by Ceej

How was Cranston's performance?

My fiancée and I are currently watching Breaking Bad and the guy is tremendously underrated.

He's one of the main reasons I've convinced my fiancée to go see Godzilla with me.

This should be good.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Just saw it. This is pretty much spot on. I didnt think it was slow at all. There is an action scene about 40 minutes in, and another about 50 minutes in, after that its pretty much non-stop. My 9 year old son loved it. He was never bored.

Great flick. They totally got "Godzilla". Im not gonna spoil anything here yet until most have seen it. Its full of small surprises.

Loved the look and scale of this thing. Lots of long shots to give you that epic scale. oh...and very little of that shaky closeup cam stuff. The design of the MUTOs and Godzilla himself was pure awesome.

I loved the scale of most things. But Godzilla only created a typhoon once upon entry, every other time nothing. And there was not that much visual action of the battle. Should of been a lot more. The destruction was nice though.

Everyone started clapping towards the end when the special ability came out.

The constant emp thing bothered me, and vehicles working after it. None of it is really a big distraction. Fun flick, throw back to zilla and monster fans in general that have not had a good one in ages. It was enjoyable to hear some kids in awe of godzilla in the crowd.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Rausch

It is. The cgi is believable and very well done and the 3D added and didn't distract from the film. After a while you just get use to it and kind of forget it's in 3D.

Comments without any spoilers:

1) The reason people's comments are short is mostly due to the fact you just can't talk about hardly anything without spoiling something. For the most part the surprises that come are positives.

2) This movie is not slow to start - there's action from start to end - it's just not always giant monsters dominating the scene. As the film goes on the action increases and becomes more and more intense. This "slow build" is not something that would irritate adult viewers but younger kids (12 or younger) might get impatient waiting for longer monster/fight/destruction scenes.

I think the descriptions that monster action doesn't happen until the end/2nd half isn't entirely honest. It's more like a small leak that gradually grows and grows and grows until the pipes burst.

3) Some reviews stated that there were comedic moments that just missed and weren't funny. I never got the impression there were any comedic moments. This movie takes itself very seriously. These were simply misunderstood scenes/moments were things were implied but IMO not made obvious enough.

This film does not beat you over the head with commentary or a singular message - it's understated. At times too understated.

4) This is such a departure in tone from other Godzilla films I'd compare it to the difference between the last Batman trilogy and any other Batman film. It's that different.

5) There a at least two tips of the hat to his previous film Monsters, many to previous Toho Godzilla films/moments, and what appeared to me to be a big **** you to the 98 American film.

6) This movie shows - it doesn't tell. The scenes tell the story and not a bunch of lengthy exposition. You'll gather meaning from a collection of scenes and how the story unfolds or you won't.

3d these days is fantastic if done appropriately, and shot with 3d planned from the start and not just a last minute add on slapped on in post production.
My only negative with it these days is the difference in brightness and it just seeming to be a bit muted / less vivid.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Valiant

I loved the scale of most things. But Godzilla only created a typhoon once upon entry, every other time nothing. And there was not that much visual action of the battle. Should of been a lot more. The destruction was nice though.

I meant the way it was shot. Lots of long, wide angle shots in scope. Really gave it that epic feel and everything felt huge.


At times it felt more like a natural disaster flick than a monster flick.

this might be a spoiler

Spoiler!

The MUTOs get more screen time than Godzilla himself.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

My wife and I are seeing it tomorrow morning. Can't wait. All our friends so far loved it.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Ceej

How was Cranston's performance?

My fiancée and I are currently watching Breaking Bad and the guy is tremendously underrated.

He's one of the main reasons I've convinced my fiancée to go see Godzilla with me.

I'd say he's the raw human emotion in this film. Grief, anger, disgust, he squeezes the most out of every scene he's in. His performance was powerful and it's an extreme understatement to say they didn't utilize this enough.

I'll agree with early reviewers that his performance the first 1/3rd of the film builds an expectation the rest of the film doesn't satisfy.

As the movie moves on and we see more and more of Godzilla it's almost as if he's the personification (best way I can see to put it) of Cranston's raw emotion. For those large dog owners you know that moment when your pet see's a cat and no matter what you say or what else is happening it has one purpose at that moment: ending that cat.

Godzilla vs. Muto is Dog vs Cat.

Spoiler!

It's also that final after the big battle. I remember thinking "Holy $3it! Did that just happen!?! They should flash a big bloody FATALITY at the top of the screen!"

[RINGLEADER]

I hated this movie - the creative choices they made at the beginning of the film were just wrong to me and I could never get around them. I was so looking forward to this and left extremely disappointed.

[Al Bundy]

The movie was ****ing awesome.

Spoiler!

Thousands of Raiders fans died, Godzilla ****ing wiped out the Muto's and there is no doubt they are dead.

[Tribal Warfare]

‘Godzilla’ Roars to Huge $9.3 Million at Thursday Night Box Office

The monster remake's early haul tops that of “Amazing Spider-Man 2”

“Godzilla” has begun its box office rampage with a powerful $9.3 million haul from Thursday night showings.

The remake of the iconic monster movie, a co-production of Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., got an early start with shows that began at 7 p.m. in roughly 3,000 theaters. As of Friday, it will be in 3,952 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, and will roll out in 64 foreign markets as well this weekend.

The Thursday night total for “Godzilla” is higher than that of ”The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” which took in $8.7 million earlier this month as it headed to a $91 million three-day debut. And it isn't far off the $10.2 million that “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” put up on its way to a $95 million opening weekend in April. The opening was the year's biggest.

Analysts predict a three-day total take in the $65 million-$70 million range for “Godzilla,” and expect the Gareth Edwards-directed 3D epic to easily displace last week's No. 1 film, “Neighbors.” The weekend's other wide opener, Disney's Jon Hamm baseball movie “Million Dollar Arm,” will be in 3,019 theaters and is expected to debut in the $10 million range.

Bryan Cranston, Aaron Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, David Strathairn and Ken Watanabe star in “Godzilla,” which is off to a fast start overseas. It's already opened No. 1 in seven foreign territories, including France.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Analysts predict a three-day total take in the $65 million-$70 million range for “Godzilla,” and expect the Gareth Edwards-directed 3D epic to easily displace last week's No. 1 film, “Neighbors.”

I'll be honest, I expected a bigger opening weekend.

And after seeing the film there are a lot of spoiler moments. Most of these would ruin the movie for someone who hasn't watched it yet.

I'm also waiting for the super right wing to complain that the story is bashing America because our government/military/people do stupid things and make mistakes.

If you follow the events of the movie the world (read: at least 4 different countries) are trying to keep secret what Cranston is trying to uncover.

To me it was more: this is how the world today deals with problems and eventually mother nature will tell us to learn to swim...

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by Rausch

I'll be honest, I expected a bigger opening weekend.

And after seeing the film there are a lot of spoiler moments. Most of these would ruin the movie for someone who hasn't watched it yet.

I'm also waiting for the super right wing to complain that the story is bashing America because our government/military/people do stupid things and make mistakes.

If you follow the events of the movie the world (read: at least 4 different countries) are trying to keep secret what Cranston is trying to uncover.

To me it was more: this is how the world today deals with problems and eventually mother nature will tell us to learn to swim...

With no real big Hollywood names in the movie the estimated gross is about right.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

With no real big Hollywood names in the movie the estimated gross is about right.

Yeah, I just thought that this flick was so much better in every aspect than the 98 Godzilla and (adjusted for inflation) those numbers will likely be hard to beat...

I of course dissected the box office performance of Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla back in May for that film’s 15th anniversary. Long-story short, the film grossed $138 million domestic and $379 million worldwide on a $125 million budget...Adjusted for inflation, those numbers would be about $230m domestic and $633m worldwide, and that’s not even accounting for fifteen years of overseas expansion and the 3D and IMAX bumps that of course didn’t exist in 1998.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmen...godzilla-1998/

[Rausch]

As of early Sat morning it's running at 80% Audience and 73% by critics on RT...

Warning: I've read most the reviews and almost all the negative one's are spoiler heavy. I don't get this. If you didn't like it that's fine but don't ruin it for everyone else...