Godzilla (2006 film)

Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira) is an 2006 American science fiction monster film produced by Columbia Pictures. It is the twenty-ninth Godzilla in the series and the second American Godzilla film. The film was released to North American theaters on May 10, 2006 and to Japanese theaters in April 26, 2006.

Godzilla was directed by Zack Snyder, produced by Thomas Tull, Deborah Snyder, and Dean Devlin, who previously produced the 1998 Godzilla film, among many others. The film was written by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, the scriptwriters of the unmade 1994 Godzilla film. Godzilla's plot follows the reawakening of an ancient reptilian monster who lived through the Prehistoric era. He then goes to New York to face an enemy that lived during his time to defeat him once and for all, destroying anything in his path.

Godzilla successfully did better than its previous 1998 incarnation and hit 3 million in the box office. On July 20, 2006, at the San Diego Comic Con panel, Sony announced that a trilogy was being made for Godzilla and two more films would be released in the following years, 2009 and 2011. A sequel, Godzilla: Rebirth was released in 2009 and received positive reception from critics and fans. The final film to the trilogy, Godzilla: Embodiment of Destruction was released in 2011 and scored big as a finale in the box office. After the third film, Sony handed over the rights to Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. for their reboot. The trilogy would take the place of the fallen American Godzilla film, Godzilla '94.

Background
At the end of November in 2004, Sony decided to get one more chance at making a Hollywood Godzilla movie. Sony executives asked Toho if they could get one more chance at remaking Godzilla. Toho wasn’t with it at first, but they decided to give America a second chance. Sony realized how important this was to the Godzilla fans. They decided to revive the plans for the unmade 1994 version of Tristar’s Godzilla, but with a few changes.

One month later in December, they hired Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder to direct their Godzilla remake. Columbia Pictures would also distribute the film instead of TriStar Pictures, along with Snyder’s film company, Cruel and Unusual Films. They brought back Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, the guys who wrote the script for Tristar’s unmade 1994 Godzilla. Hans Zimmer would compose the soundtrack for the film. Two days before Christmas, Rossio and Elliott wrote the first draft for the film. Shusuke Kaneko was hired to design how Godzilla would look in the remake after his work in the 2001 film, Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Crash McCreery was hired as the co-designer. McCreery also had designs for the 1994 Godzilla. The design was based on the GMKGoji design. Snyder wanted Godzilla to be able to run. Kaneko, McCreery, and the VFX team suggested that Godzilla should be able to run at 200 mph, like his MonsterVerse incarnation in the future. Devlin also made some changes to the design, bringing back his ears but smaller.

Rossio and Elliott’s script was a revamped version of their script of the 1994 film. Unlike Emmerich’s incarnation, this incarnation would not have the ability to burrow underground and is not portrayed as a mutated iguana, rather a prehistoric creature like Toho’s incarnations of the creature. Rossio and Elliott also brought back Godzilla’s iconic atomic breath. They also had planned to bring back the more powerful version of the atomic breath, the Red Spiral Heat Ray but decided to save the ability for the sequel. The two script writers also revived their other monster, the Gryphon to be the main antagonist in the remake.

Announcement at SDCC 2005
On July 14, 2005, Sony announced that they got the rights for Godzilla back from Toho. They announced that they were gonna reboot the series and this time, it would be distributed by Columbia Pictures, not TriStar. Zack Snyder, the director of 300, would direct. They had also considered for Roland Emmerich to come back and direct but they quickly rejected bringing him back due to the failure of Godzilla '98. It was confirmed that Hans Zimmer would be composing the soundtrack for Godzilla, covering the theme of Godzilla. The movie would star Ian Somerhalder, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Robert Patrick, Phoebe Tonkin and Sean Faris.

Filming
Filming began August 9, 2005, one month after it was announced. The filming for the movie was wrapped in December 5, 2005, the same day as the release of Universal's King Kong remake.

Animation
The animation was provided by Sony Pictures Imageworks, with a combination of suitmation and CGI. Kurt Carley reprises his role as the suit actor for Godzilla.

Visual Effects

The visual effects were made through how the characters would look like.

Post-production
TBA

Marketing
Godzilla's marketing campaign was multi-pronged in its execution:

In a commercial for the Ford Shelby 36k mile car, Godzilla is seen, stomping around, roaring. He sees the Shelby and picks it up and eats it. The car suddenly starts throttling, causing Godzilla to choke and drop the car for it to leave. A male citizen says before the car is dropped, "That is one hungry dinosaur." The car lands on the ground. Half of the glass is broken. The car drives away with the driver in fear. Godzilla stomps back to the water, then he jumps in it, roaring.

McDonalds had tie-ins such as the Godzilla Meal for the adults and the Happy Meal for kids. A commercial for the Happy Meal starts off with the city in ruins. Godzilla stomps through looking for something to eat. He seees the McDonalds and tears the roof off. A cashier says, "We're gonna need a bigger restaurant." The voiceover says, "Get your Godzilla happy Meal today from McDonalds. It comes with a hamburger or nuggets of your choice. It also come with Apple Slices, milk, and a toy. Stomp on down to McDonalds today. The meal is here for a limited time only. And see the new film, Godzilla, in theaters May 10." The cashier gives Godzilla the meal and he grabs it with his hands, then he walks away.

The film also had a video game tie-in that was released on April 20, 2006 in Europe, April 24, 2006 in North America and on May 20, 2006 in Japan.

Theatrical releases

 * United States - May 8, 2006 (New York, Virginia, and California)
 * United States - May 10, 2006
 * Japan - April 26, 2006
 * Canada - May 15, 2006
 * Singapore - April 20, 2006 (Premiere); May 2, 2006
 * Australia - July 4, 2006 (Premiere); July 20, 2006
 * South America - June 20, 2006
 * China - July 7, 2006
 * Israel - July 31, 2006
 * Vietnam - July 2, 2006
 * United Kingdom - August 10, 2006
 * Europe - July 10, 2006

Box office
Godzilla 's budget was $150-200 million in both production and advertising costs. Financially, the film was successful in its initial release with a gross of $100 million. Domestically, it made $250,600,000 and drew in another $200 million overseas, totaling over 300 million dollars. According to fans, this was the best reboot that Sony could make. Sony also made the film as an apology for the bad 1998 film.

Sony's contract with Toho stated that Sony could make a trilogy of the Godzilla films as long as the first film was released three-four years before the sequel. Sony took up the offer and announced that a sequel was in development. While that happened, Sony released a animated television show on Nickelodeon that followed the further adventures of Godzilla. The show was good as its reboot and renewed for three more seasons while the sequel was being developed.

Reception
This film gained a 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, claiming this consensus: "A fun and thrilling ride that will have the audience on the edge of their seat!" The remake also has a 73% on Metacritic, indicating "generally positive reviews". This movie reflects a 7.5/10 on IMDb.

Rating
This movie's rating is rated PG-13 for:

Action
10/10

Some of the monster scenes can frighten young viewers.

Physical violence can be displayed through the monsters as they fight both each other and the U.S military.

Lots of destruction.

Some scenes may include a little bit of blood and gore.

Language
7/10

In some scenes, there are some uses of "damn", "s**t", b**ch, and one use of the word, f**k.