Godzilla 2000 Millenium

Plot:
Yuji Shinoda is the expert on Godzilla. He suspects that there is a pattern to the big lizard's appearances. Godzilla shows up and attacks a nuclear power plant adding to the theory. Following an attack on a power plant, a 200 meter rock appears off the coast of Japan and flies at Godzilla. The rock is blasted open to reveal a UFO inside which attacks the big guy.

From Sony: In his 23rd big-screen appearance, Godzilla battles an alien life form awakened from it's 6,000 year sleep in the depths of the Japan trench. Can Godzilla's furious heat beam destroy the gigantic UFO? Will humanity survive? The stage is set for an unprecedented battle between Godzilla, the UFO and the Japanese.

News:

19 June, 2000

Sony gave Godzilla 2000's official websites an overhaul. It carries the theme of the poster and has the trailer on it.

13 June, 2000

A new trailer has finally appeared for the US release of the movie. I have to say I liked it a lot. It was exactly what I think of when I think of Godzilla. Sure the special effects were a bit better than I'm used to but it was still a guy in rubber suit stomping on a city and mixing it up with some giant monster. The dubbing of English voices was even done badly. Just the way it should be. Plus the whole thing was set to Rob Zombie's Superbeast.

• 2.8 MB MOV

31 May, 2000

A new poster was inevitable since most people in America wouldn't even be able to read the existing Japanese posters. What you see here is the American version.

23 May, 2000

Sorry, no actual news today but I did track down a big picture of your favorite lizard in his new movie.

9 March, 2000
It's been awhile but we've got some new pictures for you to check out. Personally these are among my favorites so far. They just look so damn cool. Enough of my talking, here they are.

26 January, 2000
Well how about that, it's true. Godzilla 2000: Millenium will be hitting American theaters this summer. Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to Toho's latest Godzilla movie with plans to release it this summer under TriStar Pictures. Sony has acquired Godzilla movies from Toho before but this is the first time they have planned to release one theatrically. The movie will be dubbed into English. It will have no impact on the planned sequel to Sony's 1998 Godzilla unfortunately. That project is still underway. Maybe they will watch this one and learn from their mistakes.

24 January, 2000
Could it be possible? Could this movie actually get a theatrical release here in the US? That's the report from AICN. The report claims that it will premiere at G-fest 2000 at the American Cinematique. It would then get a wide release in August. Don't get your hopes up though. Sony still owns the American distribution rights for Godzilla. If they have any intentions of making a sequel to their version of Godzilla, they won't allow Toho to release their movie here theatrically. That doesn't rule out a video release though.

10 January, 2000
Unsurprisingly the news on this movie has slowed down a bit since the movie was actually released. However I can now point you to a review of the movie. Now the reviewer saw the movie with no working knowledge of Japanese and without the benefit of subtitles, so this isn't the sharpest review ever. Still, he did the best he could. Check it out.

13 October, 1999
Special effects director Keni Suski had some details about the movie. This is spoiler material so don't read it if you don't want to know. Suski said that the aliens comes to earth looking for a substance called "Organizer G1" to replenish themselves. It seems that Godzilla is made up of this stuff. They get some of it but they can't contain it and the monster Orga is born. Wanting more of the stuff that created him Orga proceeds to swallow Godzilla. Woah.

5 October, 1999
Even more pictures from this movie. I've got to say, I love the pictures from this production so far. It all just looks the way a Godzilla movie should look. The special effects I've seen so far actually look several notches better than I'm used to seeing from a Godzilla movie. But the important thing is that it all looks the way it should. Very refreshing after Sony's sad attempt last summer. The pictures are mostly of a battle between Godzilla and the new evil monster Orga. Click on the images for a larger version.

21 September, 1999
We've seen the updated big guy, we've seen the UFO and now we can see the monster Godzilla will face of against, Orga. I don't really know much about Orga but he sure is an ugly spud isn't he? While I'm at it, I've noticed that Toho's website has a cast list but unfortunately I can't read it. If anyone out there can translate it for me I would greatly appreciate it. Click on the images below for larger versions.

9 September, 1999
Yet another picture from the production but this one is a bit different. Here we can see Tsutomu Kitagawa next to the suit he wears to portray the big guy. The rubber suit apparently weighs over 180 pounds so give the man some appreciation for his hard work.

8 September, 1999
Here we have a lovely image from the movie of the invading UFO landing on top of a building. At least I think that's what it's doing. Anyway it gives a good idea of what the UFO looks like. Most of the images from the production to date have focused on the updated appearance of the big guy.

7 September, 1999
The latest Godzilla movie is due out in December. Unfortunately that's just in Japan. Here in the US we will likely never see it on the big screen. Since Columbia-TriStar holds the distribution rights for America, Toho can't show the movie here. Chances are we will see it eventually on video though. The movie opens on Godzilla emerging from the ocean in the fog. He immiediately heads for a nuclear power plant, drawn by the radiation. While this movie will continue to use an actor in a rubber suit for the hero, it will use some CGI for the movie's finale, a top-secret metamorphosis. Just so long as he doesn't transform into Sony's iguana version of Godzilla...

They have also released a new trailer for the movie. You can check it out here.

2 August, 1999
You know nothing starts my day quite like a heaping pile of new Godzilla pictures. So this has been a good day so far. Check these out these new pictures from the set of the movie.

6 July, 1999
Okay this should be the last batch of pictures of the new rubber suit Godzilla. These should give you all the detail you could ask for unless you're looking for details of the big guy's anatomy. Thanks to the always cool Monster Zero.

25 June, 1999
Even more pictures of the new rubber suit and this time the pictures aren't glimpses of pieces, they show everything. The early sketches we've seen were actually very accurate in portraying Godzilla's new look. Unlike Sony completed redesign, this is just an updating of the design. There's no mistaking it as Godzilla, but now he's meaner looking. Anyway, click on the pictures below for a better look.

23 June, 1999
Unlike Sony's marketing scheme of redesigning Godzilla and then only letting us see tiny glimpses, Toho seems to be going for total exposure. We've seen a profile, a head design, a shot of the fins, and now a shot of the mouth. All of these glimpses give us the idea that this will be a much more aggressive version of the traditional rubber suit. At least it doesn't look like a giant iguana this time.

16 June, 1999
Toho held a 'fan event' in which people could ask the producers details about the new movie. The detailing of the new rubber suit should be very similar to the image released a while back. The skin will be much more prickly with larger dorsal fins. The tail will be in proportion with these fins. The head will have a much more aggressive appearance than before. Shooting should go for 10 weeks, beginning 10 July. Tsutomu Kitagawa will play Godzilla. This will be the first part of a trilogy and will be unconnected with previous Godzilla movies. You can get a look at the head and fin design from the pictures below. Click on the images for larger versions. Thanks to Monster Zero for the information.

15 June, 1999

Yesterday's mention of Toho's new Godzilla movie was cool. Let's face it, Godzilla should be a guy in a rubber suit smashing a cardboard city. It shouldn't be a CGI special effect that looks like a massive iguana. It was that campiness that made Godzilla movies so much fun. So anyway, it appears Sony still plans a sequel to the 1998 disaster. Amy Pacal, president of Columbia Pictures, said in Entertainment Weekly that they wil make a more family friendly sequel. The reasoning? "if a movie makes $400 million, you make a sequel. It's that simple." Look, just because a lot of people were fooled into going to this movie in the first place doesn't mean it was good. I beg you to put this new Godzilla franchise to rest and leave it to the experts. You know, the guys with the rubber suit.

14 June, 1999
Toho has put up an official website for their new Godzilla movie. They have also posted a trailer in Quicktime (2.5MB MOV) and Real formats. Unfortunately the trailer and website are in Japanese so I can't translate any of it for you. But it is cool to watch and there are some interesting pictures at the website so definitely check it out. The picture on the left is the official poster. It's very similar to a production sketch I posted a while back. Click on it to see a larger version.

4/19/99
The title of Toho's latest Godzilla movie has been changed from Godzilla Millenium to Godzilla 2000. The big guy will be be lightly redesigned for a leaner meaner look. Relax, it's nothing like the Emmerich/Devlin giant iguana redesign. Click on the picture for a larger version. Thanks to MonsterZero.

3/16/99
The Monster Zero web site reports that Hiroshi Kashiwabara, the script writer for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, has been hired to pen the screenplay for Toho's next movie in the franchise, Godzilla Millenium. They are apparently considering using CGI special effects in the movie, which leads to speculation that we may have seen the end of the rubber Godzilla suit.

The same web site is reporting that Sony may have decided to drop plans for Godzilla 2. With the legal battle for the movie rights to Spider-Man settled, Sony could be planning to put all its efforts behind Spider-Man, leaving no time or funds for Godzilla.

I>1/19/99
Godzilla News reports that the script for Toho's new "traditional" Godzilla flick has been scrapped. The script ignored every previous film except for the original and the 1984 version. The big lizard would have battled some sort of alien energy creature.

1/7/99 Toho Ltd. sent out this press release concerning news stories stating that they were resurrecting the original Godzilla for another movie:

"We at Toho are deeply dismayed by a recent article in the press announcing our plans to bring back a version of Godzilla because that story did not represent our feelings in spirit or in fact on several points. We are deeply gratified by the worldwide box office success of TriStar's Godzilla and since it was always our intention to bring back the classic Godzilla, we appreciate the support our partners at Sony and Centropolis have given us to achieve our goal. Currently we enthusiastically support the highly successful Godzilla animated series and Sony's sequel to the film. We hope that this will put to rest any misinterpretaitons resulting from previous statements."

12/15/98
According to Variety, Japanese film studio Toho Co. said Tuesday that it will dust off the rubber suit and bring its version of Godzilla back to the screen in order to appease legions of fans who did not like the Sony TriStar computer-generated lizard. Filming will start in April for "Godzilla Millennium," which will be in Japanese theaters for the 1999-2000 New Year's holiday. No story line has been decided yet, but a team of three screenwriters is working on the script that will bring Godzilla back from his death in Toho's previous monster camp film made in 1995. The film will be the 23rd since the first "Godzilla" movie came out in 1954. "Sony Pictures has asked us not to make our own version of 'Godzilla,' but there is no contractual relationship barring us from bringing back the Toho version of 'Godzilla,' " a company spokesman said. Toho told Daily Variety at the time of "Godzilla's" release last summer that it was planning to bring the big lizard back to crush models of downtown Tokyo.