"Godzilla" Now At A Bus Shelter Near You

by Armand Vaquer

As we get closer to May 16, which is opening day for Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. Godzilla, the advertising machine is either in high gear or getting very close to it.

I have seen television advertisements, billboards and, now, bus shelter ads.

Tonight, while on my way to work in Burbank, California (which is also home to Warner Bros. Studios), I spotted this bus bench shelter with a Godzilla poster and took a couple shots of it with my cell phone.

Here they are:

This brought to mind how disappointing the ad campaign, or lack thereof, of Godzilla 2000 back in the summer of 2000. There were no bus shelter or any other kinds of advertising that I saw at the time. Small wonder why the movie only earned $10 million at the box office.

And, in Chicago...

Above, Lenell Bridges poses with a Godzilla poster at a Chicago bus shelter. Photo courtesy of Lenell Bridges.

Rebuttal To Forbes' "Godzilla" Flop Prediction

by Armand Vaquer

Above, the Hibiya Godzilla statue. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It may happen, and it may not.

John Furrier, a contributor to Forbes.com, predicts that the upcoming Legenday Pictures/Warner Bros. Godzilla will be a box office flop. He named it as number one of three big Hollywood productions that will be flops in 2014.

 On Godzilla, he wrote:

Following are our predictions and analysis for the Top Three biggest flops of 2014, in order of magnitude (net loss): 

1)Godzilla. Hands down, “Godzilla” will be the biggest box office bomb of 2014. Godzilla as a character is box office poison. The fact is the last 3 Godzilla movies released domestically have flopped: “Godzilla 1985” made $4M; “Godzilla 2000” made a whopping $10M and the last attempt at a Hollywood-style big budget remake, also called “Godzilla” bombed so bad that its lead toy licensee went bankrupt. Had the movie made a profit the studio wouldn’t have just let the rights expire in 2003 without even attempting a reboot or sequel. They had 5 years to make a new film based on this property yet they passed. Think about it—Sony, the studio that greenlights sequels to most anything—”Resident Evil 6″ is on the horizon and don’t forget about “Underworld 5″—walked away from investing another cent in Godzilla.

Furrier neglects to factor the 1985 dollars and adjust them to inflation when it comes to Godzilla 1985. Plus, the studio who produced and distributed it paid relatively a paltry sum. So, $4 million in 1985 dollars was not that bad a return.

On Godzilla 2000, the movie was poorly marketed and many people thought it was a sequel to the 1998 Matthew Broderick disaster, which, by the way, deserved to flop. It didn't look like Godzilla or act like Godzilla. Additionally, he fails to mention that both Godzilla (1998) and Godzilla 2000 made money in the home video (VHS, DVD) market. (Godzilla 1985 is currently in limbo as far as home video rights are concerned.)

So far, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. seem to be doing everything right this time. Whether this translates to "more butts in seats" remains to be seen. The fan buzz on the movie has been very positive. That's another thing Furrier neglected to consider. Godzilla has a fan base (although not as big as the Star Wars or Star Trek fan bases) that will drum up more positive buzz should the movie meet their expectations. Good word-of-mouth is something that cannot be ignored.

To read the full article (Furrier does have more to say on Godzilla), go here.

July 2000 "Godzilla Week" Photo Surfaces

by Armand Vaquer

Above, gathering in the Hall of Administration before the "Godzilla Week"
 ceremony are (left to right) Armand Vaquer, Masaharu Ina of 
Toho L.A., Andrew Wong and J. D. Lees.  Photo courtesy of Andrew Wong.

Back in July 2000, the second G-Fest in Southern California was about to be held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  A month later, Godzilla 2000, the first Japanese Godzilla movie to be released nationwide in theaters since Godzilla 1985.

To garner some publicity for both, the idea was to have the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declare the week of G-Fest "Godzilla Week." Toho Co., Ltd. was enthusiastic over this idea and even shipped over (at their expense) a Godzilla 2000 event suit for the ceremony to be held at the Hall of Administration.

Unfortunately, Jaime Geller, a publicist at Sony Entertainment, horned in and thinking she knew better than anyone about what constitutes good publicity, nixed the appearance of the event suit saying it was too small and, "It detracts from the grandeur of Godzilla." (Sony had the U.S. theatrical rights to Godzilla 2000, which included publicity.) Once fans heard the news of the cancellation of the event suit, the "fit hit the shan." Geller received many angry messages from irate fans.

The ceremony went ahead anyway without the event suit and, as a result of Sony's dumb move, no publicity was generated. But, at least Toho got a nice scroll (below) out of it and it hangs somewhere at Toho in Japan.

What prompted this post was the above photograph that, until tonight, I didn't know existed. It was sent to me by Andrew Wong.  Thanks, Andrew!

Check out Andrew's GForever website!

"Godzilla x Megaguirus: G Annihilation Strategy" Movie Book

by Armand Vaquer

Above, the cover.

In January 2001, Japanese publisher Shogakukan published their TV-kun photo book on the 2000 Toho feature, Godzilla x Megaguirus: G Annihilation Strategy (ISBN 4-09-101475-5).

The movie premiered in Japan on November 3, 2000 at the Tokyo International Film Festival.  Its initial release was on December 16, 2000.  It was directed by Masaaki Tezuka.

Above, the photo of the "Godzilla Week" ceremony that appeared in the "Godzilla x Megaguirus" Shogakukan movie book.

Shogakukan has a history of publishing high-quality photo books that are loaded with rare photos from the movies and production stills.  This one was no exception.  It contains photos of props, monster suits, wardrobe, miniatures and statistics, besides scenes from the movie.

Above, the "Godzilla Week" proclamation scroll by the Board of Supervisors.

One item of interest (at least to me) included in the book was a group photo of the "Godzilla Week" ceremony that was held in July 2000 at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.  The ceremony was held at the Board of Supervisors meeting and a proclamation declaring "Godzilla Week" was sponsored by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and signed by all the Board members.

The idea for the ceremony was to draw media attention to G-FEST 2000 (to be held that week in Hollywood) and the opening of Godzilla 2000 the following month.  Toho even shipped over an event suit for the occasion, but Jaime Geller of Sony/Tri-Star Pictures nixed the appearance with the flimsy excuse that Sony/Tri-Star had the "publicity rights" to Godzilla 2000 and the suit "detracted from the grandeur of Godzilla."  It was more likely that she wanted to control this fan-generated event with the usual "Hollywood knows best" attitude. As it turned out, Sony/Tri-Star was conspicuously absent from the ceremony.  They sent no representatives.  Thankfully, we had the full support of Toho's Los Angeles office.

Once fans learned of the "sabotage" of the event due to the cancellation of the suit's appearance (we went ahead with the ceremony anyway), the "fit hit the shan."  Fans raised holy hell with many irate emails directed to Sony/Tri-Star.  Had the suit been allowed to appear, it may have helped a little with the boxoffice take of Godzilla 2000 (it earned a measly $10 million) as people would have been able to see the new Godzilla "Millennium" design up close for the first time.  Sony's saving grace was that they provided hundreds of Godzilla 2000 cloisonne promo pins and mini-posters to hand out at the event and at G-FEST.

Above, my autographed group photo of the "Godzilla Week" ceremony.  Photo courtesy of the office of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

The Godzilla x Megaguirus: G Annihilation Strategy book is currently out-of-print, but it can still be found at eBay and some Japanese online bookseller websites.  At the time of publication, I bought two of them (one for myself and one as a "thank-you" gift to Supervisor Antonovich).  It is amazing that over 12 years have passed since "Godzilla Week" and the publication of the movie book.

Godzilla Week: 10th Anniversary

Photo courtesy of the office of Sup. Michael D. Antonovich, L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

Godzilla Week: 10th Anniversary

by Armand Vaquer

Next month will mark ten years (!) since a piece of Godzilla history took place in Los Angeles, California.

In July 2000, G-FEST 2000 took place at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with movie screenings taking place at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. This convention had the largest guest line-up ever in G-FEST's history.

But days before G-FEST 2000, an event to celebrate the convention as well as the first wide release of a Godzilla movie in fifteen years to U.S. theaters, Godzilla 2000, took place at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting on July 11. It was at that meeting that the Board declared July 10 - 16, 2000 as "Godzilla Week." The declaration was sponsored by L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

That year was the first year I handled publicity duties for G-FEST. The idea for "Godzilla Week" was to garner publicity for the convention as well as for Godzilla 2000, released by Sony/TriStar in August 2000.

Unfortunately, all did not go 100% smoothly for the "Godzilla Week" ceremony. At that time, Masaharu Ina was the general manager of Toho Co., Ltd.'s Los Angeles office in Century City. I had developed a good working relationship with him and when I proposed the ceremony with him, he was enthusiastic. He was instrumental in getting the Toho executives' cooperation in shipping a Godzilla 2000 event suit to Los Angeles for the ceremony. This would have been a great publicity event. G-FAN publisher J. D. Lees flew to L.A. several days early to participate in the ceremony.

However, the fly in the ointment was a lady at Sony/TriStar named Jaime Geller, who decided to take over the planning of this event. Since Sony/TriStar had the theatrical rights to Godzilla 2000, any publicity involving it had to be under their purview, or so she said. I tried to work with her on this, and it seemed that things were going good.

About a week or so before the scheduled event, a meeting was to take place at L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich's office with Geller, Mr. Ina and Antonovich's staff to plan how the appearance of Godzilla at the meeting would happen. Mr. Ina and I arrived at the same time and Mr. Ina had a somber look on his face. He said that when the crate containing the Godzilla event suit was opened at Sony, they looked at it and decided that it detracted "from the grandeur of Godzilla" and nixed the suit's appearance. Although shocked, we decided to go ahead with the ceremony anyway, with "rumble and roar" Godzilla toys representing The King. Each county supervisor received one from Toho.

While the ceremony went fine, the cancellation of the Godzilla event suit killed our chances for media coverage. When word reached fandom about Sony killing the appearance of the event suit, the "fit hit the shan." Many even called Sony's offices to raise hell with them. The fans were steamed (to put it mildly)!

Along with Ina and Lees, others participating in the ceremony were Toho Sales Manager Tetsushi Sudo, Richard Pusateri, Mrs. Mike Antonovich and their son, and me. Many fans showed up to attend the ceremony. A scroll was presented to Mr. Ina.

Above, the G-FAN article on the ceremony along with a photograph of the scroll.

After the ceremony, several of us gathered in Little Tokyo for Japanese lunch at Weller Court.

It is hard to believe that this event took place ten years ago next month. We had to wait four years later to see an authentic Toho Godzilla event suit at a ceremony.

Godzilla 2000 (1999)(Toho)

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

AKA: Gojira ni-sen mireniamu (1999), G2K: Godzilla 2000 (1999), G2K: Millennium (1999), Godzilla 2000 (2000), Godzilla 2000 Millennium (1999), Godzilla Millennium (1999), Gojira 2000 (1999)

Directed By: Takao Okawara

Written By: Hiroshi Kashiwabara & Wataru Mimura

Cast:

Takehiro Murata as Yuji Shinoda

Hiroshi Abe as Mitsuo Katagiri

Naomi Nishida as Yuki Ichinose

Mayu Suzuki as Io Shinoda

Tsutomu Kitagawa as Gojira

Makoto Ito as Oruga

Takeshi Obayashi

Shiro Namiki

Sakae Kimura

Kenichi Nagira

Released: December 11, 1999 in Japan, August 18, 2000 in USA.

Budget: $1,000,000

Gross: $10,037,390 (USA)

Buy 'Godzilla 2000' On DVD From Amazon For $9.95

Godzilla 2000 would mark not only the rebirth of the famed movie series but also be the first Godzilla film to reach US shores in sixteen years. The last was Godzilla 1984 in, yes you guessed right, 1984. The new series would spawn not only a new direction for Gozilla, but a new look as well. 2000 would feature a Godzilla film that more resembled a Hollywood effort than any other of the films that came before it. It would seem that Toho had payed particular attention to the American Godzilla film made in 1998. (I hate to call that film Godzilla...sorry) A little bit of that film can bee seen in 2000. Also a little bit of Jurassic Park as well. I wouldn't venture a guess why this was done unless it was to make a statement on how monster movies, kaiju mainly, should be done. The special effects are far above the prior series. Though some inconsistent effects are quite noticeable towards the later part of the film. This would be the first Godzilla to use a large amount of CGI. Godzilla would not be computer generated, but the traditional "man in the suite". The storyline and acting as well would take a step forward in Millennium. Takehiro Murata (Yuji) Naomi Nishida (Yuki), and Mayu Suzuki (Io) would all stand out. Once again all a step forward from past efforts.

It would seem that Godzilla would actually have two enemies in the film. One the giant space monster Orga and the other an ex researcher turned wealthy investor, Mitsuo Katagiri, who will use all of his money and political pull to kill Godzilla. This whole situation backfires on Katagiri though. One of his rare finds ends up not being just a rock from space, but a spaceship that transforms itself into the monster Orga. Enter Yuji Shinoda and his daughter Io. Both are part of a vast research network that believes Godzilla should be studied not destroyed. Both are hired by a local photographer, Yuki Ichinose, who "just wants to get some pictures" of the monster. Shinoda's efforts bear fruit as his work isolates Godzilla's cells that automatically heel themselves. Basically the whole reason Godzilla can't be killed. Godzilla and Orga due battle. Orga is constantly mutating and eventually tries to turn into a Godzilla clone and consume him. Godzilla has a trick up his sleeve. In what may be the most awesome end to any kaiju battle Godzilla lets Orga start to swallow him whole before blowing him up from the inside out. In a very different ending to the film Godzilla locates his human tormentor Katagiri atop a nearby building and confronts him face to face. Godzilla then smashes the building ultimately eliminating both his rivals. Godzilla then lays out a fire beam in a 360 wasting everything in sight. Godzilla 2000 has a far different feel than prior kaiju films.

Tristar, a division of Sony Pictures, picked up Godzilla 2000 for theatrical distribution in North America. It would be the first Japanese Godzilla movie since Godzilla 1984 to be released in North American theatres. Mike Schlesinger, who supervised the North American release, said, "It [Godzilla 2000] was such a spectacular success in Japan, we decided it was worth taking a shot, maybe the time was right for Godzilla to come back to theaters."

Sony spent approximately $1 million to re-edit and dub the movie, and an additional $10-12 million to market it.

Godzilla 2000 was changed somewhat in the process of Americanisation. The U.S. version of the film runs 99 minutes - 8 minutes shorter than the 107-minute Japanese version. Most of these were minor edits done to improve the pacing, and the sound effects and music were also improved and enhanced. The dubbing has a somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone to it, apparently in homage to Godzilla dubs of the 60s and 70s, with lines such as "Great Caesar's Ghost!", "Bite me!" and "these missiles will go through Godzilla like crap through a goose!". Some fans have criticised the American version of G2K for "camping up" what they perceive as a "serious" movie; it must be noted, however, that Toho and Takao Okawara approved all the changes to the film in advance, and various gags sprinkled throughout the story (such as people comically surviving Godzilla's rampage early in the film) make it evident that it wasn't meant to be taken too seriously.

What the Critics had to say:

Owen Glieberman, who gave the film a B grade in Entertainment Weekly, said:

"Make all the cheesy-giant-monster-movie jokes you want. At a matinee of Godzilla 2000, I listened as the audience cheered the Toho Pictures logo, and the movie stays true, with a kind of demented affection, to the atomic age pop that inspired those cheers. Once again, the image of a man in a rubbery, barnacle-skinned dinosaur suit stomping an insanely detailed miniature Tokyo lands on an imaginative fault line somewhere between tackiness and awe."

Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post was among the most negative reviewers:

"There are some indicators that Sony intended to release this literal monstrosity as a camp item. For one thing, when the Japanese actors--all trying very hard, no doubt--speak at around 340 mph (based on lip movements) the English soundtrack produces guttural utterances at about 7 mph. In other words, he's probably saying something like, "Sir, the space monster's genetic structure is changing owing to its absorption of Godzilla's rapid-regeneration DNA, which we have code-named 'G-1'!" which is translated, for our ears, as something like, "Sir, that monster is a crazy goofed-up idiot!" Somewhere around the 750th repetition, this irony-free deadpan loses its humorous content. Sony would have been better advised to hire some smart young American comics and let them riff into a mike for a soundtrack, after the fashion of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? of all those years back. Godzilla, go home."