Godzilla is a 1998 American monster film directed by Roland Emmerich, who co-wrote the screenplay with producer Dean Devlin. It is a reboot of Toho Co., Ltd.'s Godzilla franchise and the 23rd film in the franchise, being the first Godzilla film to be completely produced by an American studio. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, and Harry Shearer. The film is dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka, the co-creator and producer of various Godzilla films, who died in April 1997. In the film, authorities investigate and battle a giant monster, known as Godzilla, who migrates to New York City to nest its young.
In October 1992, TriStar Pictures announced plans to produce a trilogy of Godzilla films. In May 1993, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write the script. In July 1994, Jan de Bont was announced as the director but left the project that December due to budget disputes. Emmerich was hired in May 1996 to direct and co-write a new script with Devlin. Principal photography began in May 1997 and ended in September 1997.
Godzilla premiered at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on May 18, 1998, and was released in the United States on May 20 by TriStar Pictures. The film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $379 million worldwide against a production budget between $130–150 million and marketing costs of $80 million, becoming the third highest-grossing film of 1998. Despite turning a profit, it was considered a box office disappointment. Planned sequels were cancelled, but an animated series was produced instead. TriStar let their remake/sequel rights expire on May 20, 2003.
In 2004, a new iteration of TriStar's Godzilla was featured in Toho's 2004 film Godzilla: Final Wars as "Zilla". That version has since appeared in various media under the "Zilla" trademark, but with the variants from the 1998 film and its animated sequel retaining the Godzilla copyright and trademark.
Plot
An iguana nest is exposed to the fallout of a military nuclear test in French Polynesia.
Years later, a Japanese cannery vessel in the South Pacific is suddenly attacked by a giant creature, with only one fisherman surviving. While confined in a hospital in Tahiti, the traumatized survivor is visited by a mysterious Frenchman, who questions him over what he witnessed. The survivor repeatedly replies "Gojira".
NRC scientist Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos is researching the effects of radiation on wildlife in the Chernobyl exclusion zone when he is interrupted by an official from the U.S. State Department who has come to pick him up for a special assignment. Nick is sent to Panama to observe a trail of destruction and footprints left by an unknown creature and then Jamaica to examine the damaged ship with massive claw marks on it. Nick identifies skin samples he discovered in the shipwreck as belonging to an unknown species. He dismisses the military's theory of the creature being a living dinosaur, instead deducing that it is a mutant created by nuclear testing in French Polynesia, close to where it was last spotted.
The creature drowns several fishing trawlers in the Eastern American Seaboard, and travels to New York City, leaving a path of destruction. The U.S. military orders an evacuation of the city. On Nick's advice, a plan is set to lure the creature into revealing itself with a large pile of fish. However, their attempt to kill it fails, causing further damage to the city before it escapes. Nick collects a blood sample and, by performing a pregnancy test, discovers the creature reproduces asexually and is about to lay eggs. Nick also meets up with his ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds, a young aspiring news reporter. Unnoticed by Nick, she uncovers a classified tape in his provisional military tent concerning the monster's origins and turns it over to the media. She hopes to have her report put on TV to launch her career as a news reporter. Charles Caiman misuses the tape in his own report, declaring it his discovery, and dubs the creature "Godzilla".
As a result of the tape's disclosure, Nick is removed from the operation, and he ends his relationship with Audrey. His taxi is hijacked by the mysterious Frenchman, who identifies himself as Philippe Roaché, an agent of the French secret service. Philippe explains that he and his colleagues have been closely watching the events to cover up their country's role in the nuclear testing that created Godzilla. They suspect a nest somewhere in the city and cooperate with Nick to trace and destroy it. Godzilla resurfaces again and evades a second military strike. After diving into the Hudson River, it is attacked by Navy submarines. After destroying one submarine, it is shot down by torpedoes as it tries to burrow to safety; Godzilla sinks to the river bed and is believed to be dead by the authorities.
Meanwhile, Nick and Philippe's team, followed by Audrey and her cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti, find the nest inside Madison Square Garden. The eggs begin to hatch, and the offsprings attack the team as they carry the scent of fish. Nick, Animal, Audrey, and Philippe take refuge in the Garden's broadcast booth and successfully send a live news coverage to alert the military of the offsprings presence. A prompt response involving an airstrike is initiated as the four escape moments before the Air Force jets bomb the arena.
Audrey and Nick reconcile before Godzilla emerges from the Garden's ruins, having survived the torpedo attack. Enraged by the deaths of its young, it chases them across the streets of Manhattan. The team manages to trap Godzilla within the suspension cables of the Brooklyn Bridge, allowing the returning Air Force to strike it down with missiles. Godzilla collapses to the ground and dies, as the remaining citizens and authorities celebrate. Audrey tells Caiman that she quits working for him after what he has done, before leaving with Nick and Animal. Philippe, taking Animal's tape and promising to return it after removing its specific contents, thanks Nick for his help, and parts ways.
Meanwhile, in the ruins of Madison Square Garden, a single surviving egg hatches, and the hatchling roars to life.
Cast
Production
Development
thumb|right|upright|[[Stan Winston|Stan Winston Studios' original Godzilla design for Jan de Bont's unproduced version]]
American film producer and distributor Henry G. Saperstein (who had co-produced and distributed past Godzilla films for the American market through his studio UPA) received permission from Toho Co., Ltd. (the owners of the Godzilla franchise) to pitch a new Godzilla film to Hollywood studios, stating, "For ten years I pressured Toho to make one in America. Finally they agreed." Saperstein initially met with Sony Pictures producers Cary Woods and Robert N. Fried for discussions regarding a live-action Mr. Magoo film but the discussions led to the availability of the rights to Godzilla.
Interested, Woods and Fried proposed the idea to Columbia Pictures (which had previously handled the North American release of Toho's Mothra), but were initially rejected. Woods stated, "We pitched the idea to Columbia and they passed outright. Their response was they felt it had the potential for camp". The two also tried to pitch the idea to TriStar Pictures but were also shot down, Fried stated, "TriStar did originally pass on the project. The people who were running the studio at that particular time may not have seen commercial potential there, may not have thought that it would make a great film."
In October 1992, TriStar formally announced their acquisition of the rights to Godzilla from Toho to produce a trilogy of Godzilla films, with the promise of "remaining true to the original series—cautioning against nuclear weapons and runaway technology." After TriStar's announcement, many of the original Godzilla filmmakers expressed support for the film; Haruo Nakajima (who portrayed Godzilla from 1954 to 1972) stated, "I'm pleased. I hope that a competition will spring up between Toho and TriStar," Koichi Kawakita (special effects director of the Heisei Godzilla films) stated, "I have great expectations. I'm looking forward to seeing it, not only because I direct special effects for Godzilla films but also because I am a movie fan," Teruyoshi Nakano (special effects director of the late Showa Godzilla films) stated, "I'm pleased that a new approach will be taken", and Ishirō Honda (director of various Showa Godzilla films) stated, "It will probably be much more interesting than the ones [currently] being produced in Japan."
In 1994, Jan de Bont became attached to direct and began pre-production on the film for a 1996 summer release. De Bont's Godzilla would have discarded the character's atomic origin and replaced it with one wherein Godzilla is an artificial creation constructed by Atlantians to defend humanity against a shape-shifting extraterrestrial monster called "The Gryphon". Stan Winston and his company were employed to do the effects for the film. Winston crafted sculptures of Godzilla and The Gryphon. De Bont later left the project in December 1994 after TriStar refused to approve his budget of $100–120 million. He would later go on to direct Twister and Speed 2: Cruise Control. Clive Barker and Tim Burton were also in talks to potentially direct.
Elliott and Rossio script
In May 1993, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write the screenplay. Prior to their hiring, Elliott and Rossio were searching for their next project and were offered Godzilla by their advisor Cary Woods. The duo initially declined the offer several times, Elliott recalled, "We actually turned the project down about two or three times because we weren't sure we knew what to do with it." Woods eventually convinced them to discuss the project with TriStar. Elliott and Rossio wrote a three and half-page story outline that secured their employment. Rossio believes that they were offered the project due to their experience in writing "franchise-type titles." Robert Fried expressed support for Elliott and Rossio, praising them as "talented sci-fi buffs" and stating, "We've put a lot of time, thought and finance into the screenplay." Toho's character restrictions helped inspire Elliott and Rossio in finding the tone of the script, Elliott stated, "Toho insisted we not make light of the monster. That helped us find the right tone as well as the social and political implications."
Emmerich and Devlin
Prior to the release of Independence Day, director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin signed on to the project in May 1996 under the condition they would be able to handle the film their way, Devlin stated, "I told Sony that I would do the film but on my own terms, with Godzilla as a fast-moving animal out of nature, rather than some strange kind of creature." Emmerich and Devlin were the first filmmakers approached by then-TriStar executive Chris Lee to do Godzilla but initially turned the offer down, Devlin stated, "Both of us thought it was a dopey idea the first time we talked. When Chris came back to us, we still thought it was a dopey idea."
Despite praising Elliott and Rossio's script, Emmerich discarded it, stating, "It had some really cool things in it, but it is something I never would have done. The last half was like watching two creatures go at it. I simply don't like that." Emmerich instead decided to develop new ideas from scratch, stating, "I didn't want to make the original Godzilla, I wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to make my own. We took part of [the original movie's] basic storyline, in that the creature becomes created by radiation and it becomes a big challenge. But that's all we took. Then we asked ourselves what we would do today with a monster movie and a story like that. We forgot everything about the original Godzilla right there." Emmerich also discarded the previous design approved by Jan de Bont, stating, "I saw the creature that they designed for [TriStar's first attempt]. Jan De Bont created a Godzilla that was very close to the original, but it was not right because today we wouldn't do it like that."
Patrick Tatopoulos was hired by Emmerich to design Godzilla. According to Tatopoulos, the only specific instructions Emmerich gave him was that it should be able to run incredibly fast. At one point, it was planned to use motion capture from a human to create the movements of the computer-generated Godzilla, but it ended up looking too much like a human in a suit.
Tatopoulos thought the designs that Ricardo Delgado, Crash McCreery and Joey Orosco provided for Jan de Bont took the design in a wrong approach, stating, "What they did which was a mistake in my mind was, rather than going in a new direction they tried to alter and make the old one better. And when you do that, first of all I think it's very disrespectful. It's more disrespectful for me to alter something existing than to take a fresh new direction." Tatopoulos took inspiration from the design of Shere Khan used in Disney's version of The Jungle Book in terms of Godzilla's chin, stating, "One of the inspirations was a character I loved as a kid, the tiger in Jungle Book, Shere Khan. He had this great chin thing and I always loved it; he looked scary, evil but you respected him. I thought, let's try to give him a chin and I felt it still looked realistic but he had this different thing that you hadn't seen before." Even though Tomiyama was not allowed to remove the artwork and maquette from the studio premise, Tomiyama visited Godzilla producer and creator Tomoyuki Tanaka, whose failing health prevented him from attending the meeting, to explain Tatopoulos' design, stating, "I told him, 'It's similar to Carl Lewis, with long legs, and it runs fast'." The following morning, Matsuoka approved the design, stating that Tatopoulos "kept the spirit of Godzilla." Chameleon-like skin change was also considered but abandoned later during production. Scenes in New York were filmed in 13 days; tropical scenes were filmed in the Hawaiian Islands. The United States Marine Corps participated in the filming of the movie. An F-18 Marine Reserve pilot, Col. Dwight Schmidt, actually piloted the plane that "fired" the missiles that killed Godzilla.
Music
The soundtrack, featuring alternative rock music, was released on May 19, 1998, by Epic Records. It was a success on the music charts, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum on June 22, 1998. The original score was composed by David Arnold. The film's score was not released on CD until 9 years later, when it went on sale as a complete original film score in 2007 by La La Land Records. The album was supported by the single "Come with Me" performed by Sean Combs and Jimmy Page.
Release
Marketing
Bob Levin, chief of marketing for the film, was caught by surprise when Emmerich insisted not to use full body images or head shots of Godzilla during the marketing, Levin stated, "we got indications from them that they really didn't think that the full figure Godzilla should be at all exposed prior to the release of the film. While initially we reacted negatively to that, once we understood their thinking behind it, it became completely acceptable to us." 300 companies signed an agreement not to show the full image of Godzilla before the film's release. Prior to principal photography, Emmerich filmed a teaser trailer, budgeted at $600,000, that featured Godzilla's foot crushing the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex at a museum. The trailer was attached to screenings of Men in Black and received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from audiences. Afterwards, select theaters began advertising that the trailer would be featured before Men in Black. The marketing campaign featured commercials of the Taco Bell chihuahua attempting to trap the monster in a box or riding on the monster's tail and making an order for two. Trendmasters manufactured the toys for the film, including the 11-inch tall "Living Godzilla" and the 21-inch tall "Ultimate Godzilla". However, poor merchandise sales for the film led to a cancellation of a toyline based on the animated series. Robert Fried had estimated that $80 million was spent on marketing worldwide.
Home media
On November 3, 1998, the film was released on VHS and DVD in the United States. Special features for the DVD include: photo galleries, visual effects and special FX supervisor commentaries, the music video for "Heroes" by The Wallflowers, Behind the Scenes of Godzilla with Charles Caiman, theatrical trailers, a featurette, director/producer and cast biographies, a photo gallery, music video, and Godzilla Takes New York (before and after shots). In 1999, Sony released a Widescreen Edition VHS. The VHS earned from rentals during its first week in the United States, at the time making it the biggest video opening since Titanic. The DVD sold over 400,000 units in the United States by the end of 1998. It was also reported that NBC would pay around for the television broadcast rights in the United States. On March 28, 2006, Sony released a special "monster" edition DVD that retained the previous DVD's special features, as well as an "All-Time Best of Godzilla Fight Scenes" featurette, 3 episodes from Godzilla: The Series, and a "never-before-seen" production art gallery. On November 10, 2009, the film was released on Blu-ray, which retained the special features from the second DVD release, sans the animated series episodes. On July 16, 2013, Sony released a "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray edition. On May 14, 2019, the film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray. This release retained the same special features from the initial Blu-ray release, as well as a new Dolby Atmos audio mix.
Reception
Box office
The Wall Street Journal reported that the film would need to gross $240 million domestically in order to be considered a success. Sony expected the film to gross $100 million during the film's opening weekend, which fell on Memorial Day weekend, expecting to set a new record for the holiday. Ultimately, it would only end up earning $12.5 million on opening day and grossing $44 million during its opening weekend. Its six-day opening gross nevertheless came close to the Memorial Day weekend record previously set by Mission: Impossible in 1996, but fell below the record set by The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997. During its final week in North America, the film was in 19th place, grossing $202,157. For that weekend, Lethal Weapon 4 made its debut, opening in first place with $34,048,124 in revenue. The film went on to top out domestically at $136,314,294 in total ticket sales through an eight-week theatrical run and the third highest-grossing film worldwide. Despite performing below expectations domestically, Godzilla was a profitable worldwide success, grossing nearly three times its budget. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F. Criticism highlighted by film critics included the film's script, acting, and directing, while fans targeted the film's reinvention of Godzilla, which included its redesign and departure from the source material.