Hideaki Anno Designs The Biggest Godzilla In History For 'Shin Godzilla'

Toho Opens Official Website for 2016 "Shin Godzilla" Film

From Crunchyroll by Mikikazu Komatsu

Toho today opens the official website for the upcoming new Godzilla film scheduled for Summer of 2016, announcing its official title Shin Godzilla and three main cast. It will be the first Japanese Godzilla film in 12 years since Ryuhei Kitamura's box office failure Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004.

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The new film is co-directed by Hideaki Anno (Evangellion) as chief director and Shinji Higuchi (Heisei Gamera series, Attack on Titan) as director. Anno provides the screenplay and Higuchi also serves as special effects director. According to the executive producer Akihiro Yamaguchi, the "Shin" is named by Anno, and can stand for "新 (new)," "真 (true)," or "神 (god)." It is easy to point out the similarity with Anno's yet-released anime film Shin Evangelion, the final fourth chapter of the Rebuild film series.

While the details of its story is unknown, 38-year-old Hiromi Hasegawa and 44-year-old Yutaka Takenouchi are cast as government officials, and 28-year-old Satomi Ishihara plays an American agent. Both Hasegawa and Ishihara recently performed in Higuchi's two-part live-action film adaptation of the mega hit manga series Attack on Titan; Hasegawa portrayed an original character for the film, Shikishima, and Ishihara as Zoë Hange.

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The visual of the new Godzilla is designed by Anno, and its size is expected to be the largest in the 60-year-old franchise, much bigger than the recent one appeared in the Gareth Edwards-directed American film in 2014, which was 108 meter tall. The shooting has already begun in August, and is scheduled to be finished by the end of October.

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Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi to Direct ‘Godzilla 2016′

From Variety
Written By Patrick Frater

Top Japanese filmmakers Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi will team up to co-direct “Godzilla 2016”, the new Japanese version of the iconic Godzilla monster movie franchise.

The Toho studio, which licensed remake rights to Warner Bros. for the hit 2014 revival by director Gareth Edwards, produced the seemingly terminal “Godzilla: Final Wars” back in 2004.

But interest was revived by Edward’s 2014 “Godzilla,” which earned $525 million worldwide and JPY3.2 billion ($26 million) in Japan, with Toho and Warner Bros. Japan co-distributing.

“Ever since Hollywood announced that ‘Godzilla’ was to be resurrected, the expectation for another Japanese Godzilla grew. And if we were to newly produce, we looked into Japanese creators who were the most knowledgeable and who had the most passion for Godzilla” said Toho in a statement.

Anno will also be responsible for the screenplay while Higuchi will oversee the picture’s VFX.

The two directors previously collaborated on “God Warrior Appears in Tokyo.” “Their drive to take on such new challenges was exactly what we all had been inspired by,” said Toho.

Anno worked on the animation of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli-produced “Nausicaa in the Valley of Wind.” He later directed anime series including “Gunbuster,” “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water” and the “Neon Genesis Evangelion” series for which he is best most known. He also curated a touring exhibition Tokusatsu — Special Effects Museum.

Higuchi also worked on the “Evangelion” series, before debuting as a feature director with “Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean” in 2005 and scoring a major hit with “The Sinking of Japan.”

Meanwhile, Edwards has been signed to make “Godzilla 2,” which is set for a June 8, 2018, bow, with Legendary and Warner Bros. again co-producing.

In total Toho has produced 28 Godzilla movies since 1954 when Ishiro Honda directed the first. Ryuhei Kitamura’s “Godzilla: Final Wars” earned a disappointing $12 million.