Godzilla

[MacGuffin]

Godzilla stomping back to theaters via Legendary
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Well, well, well ... look who's getting back in fighting shape.

Everyone's favorite gigantic, havoc-wreaking lizard, Godzilla, is on his way back to the big screen via Legendary Pictures, which has acquired the rights to develop and produce a new feature based on the iconic Toho Co. character. Warner Bros. will co-produce, co-finance and distribute through its deal with Legendary, and Toho will roll out the film in Japan.

Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers are also producing; Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira and Doug Davison will be executive producers on the project.

The last major Godzilla outing, an American, New York-set version from Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, grossed $376 million worldwide in 1998 despite fielding equally major criticism. Toho quickly produced "Godzilla 2000," in which the big beast took on an evil UFO, the following year.

But the Godzilla franchise juggernaut has survived decades of permutations (he first appeared in 1954), dozens of films, books, video games and merchandising tie-ins and seems perpetually ready to rear up again for new audiences.

The new film is shooting for a 2012 release.

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary. "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop culturally relevant for as long as it has."

Added Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, "Godzilla is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which Warner Bros. and our partners at Legendary are best known."

The two companies have partnered on such global properties as "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," "Superman Returns" and "The Hangover," which have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. Together, they have a remake of "Clash of the Titans" stomping into theaters Friday.

[MacGuffin]

'Godzilla' Getting A Frank Darabont Rewrite As Legendary Battles Roy Lee And Dan Lin
BY MIKE FLEMING JR | Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: As it stomps its way toward a March production start, Godzilla has two significant developments in the offing. Frank Darabont, who veered into genre territory by launching the AMC series The Walking Dead, has been hired by producer-financier Legendary Pictures to do a final rewrite on the script that was written by The Seventh Son scribe Max Borenstein.

At the same time, Warner Bros-based producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee, who were among the producers who came into Legendary with a Toho rights deal for the iconic reptile, are in a huge battle with the financier-producer. Legendary, which now controls the rights, wants to drop the producers from the film. As it stands right now, the 3D picture will be produced by Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, along with Brian Rogers, the latter of whom was on the ground floor of the Toho deal. The film will be directed by Monsters helmer Gareth Edwards and has been dated for May 16, 2014 release.

A report on Hitfix.com last night mentioned the exits, and painted it amicably. Actually, it could prove as toxic to Godzilla than the time the fire breather took on the smog monster Hedorah. This one's going to wind up in the courts, I'm told. My understanding is, Lin and Lee refused to reduce the fees they signed on for when the original deal was made. Legendary brass feel they have the latitude to get rid of them and is doing just that, exercising a pay-or-play clause and paying them upfront money to go away, with no back-end or credit on the film. The potential back-end on a global franchise is where the big bucks are.

I've also heard that Legendary cited Lin for mentioning the project in recent interviews to fantasy film blogs, though those comments seemed innocuous to me. This is going to be awkward, because neither guy is insignificant and both of them are lot-based producers at Warner Bros, which has money in Godzilla and will distribute worldwide except for Japan, where Toho Co will do the releasing. I've been calling the studio since last night to try and get its position on all this, and they just got back to me and issued a no comment. Neither Legendary nor the ousted producers would comment. Lin, by the way, has 15 years on the Warner Bros lot as an executive and producer, and his latest film, Gangster Squad, gets its premiere this evening.

[jenkins]

godzilla trailer has arrived:


oooh lol he's gonna fuck some shit up

[MacGuffin]

[Lottery]

So very awesome. These folks know how to make trailers.

[polkablues]

Not as great as the teaser trailer, but I'm still all in. I trust Gareth Edwards implicitly, and hopefully this movie will make people reevaluate Monsters in hindsight.

[MacGuffin]

[diggler]

So we get two monsters eh? I'm putting money down that Godzilla is the good guy.

[Punch]

looks good

[Lottery]

The extended look was uploaded along with 3 other small trailers a few days ago. Having no self-restraint I watched all of them and regretted it quite quickly. But still, ssssoooooo much hype.

[Lottery]

Obvious spoilers, 5 minutes of blurry WonderCon footage. Will probably be taken down quickly.



I strongly recommend not watching it.

[jenkins]

awkwardly disinterested in every current godzilla bluray release, semi-forgetful about my initial personal frustration with this new one not being set in tokyo or at least an irl city (will they use a city name?), and still max fucking pumped for this movie

also, today i'm thinking about buying a godzilla bluray. that's such a bad idea. i'm excited. of course, there's the question of which one i should get. is there, for example, a godzilla movie i'd want to watch a second time? have not heard of or seen a godzilla movie such as that!

^doubt we have godzilla nerds, but please link me. or ignore me. or destroy my city. whatever's topical

[wilder]

^ I know nothing about Godzilla but serendipitously this was just posted

[jenkins]

thanks! their recommendation is clear: Mothra and King Ghidorah

might do this because there might not be another time i'd buy a godzilla bluray. might not do this because i'd have to buy a godzilla bluray. mystery

[Drenk]

So. It's definitely an atmospheric movie. And after Pacifim Rim, I'm glad that monsters in a city feel like monsters who are in a city. Why do we care? Why a monster in a city is so cool to watch? Most of this Godzilla is around Godzilla. Pacific Rim was focused on the monsters and the robots, and they fighter, and the monsters and robots looked dull. Here we have some amazing shots.

But. The characters are...well, not dumb...but everything is a cliché, and, actually, it didn't feel like there was characters. It tries, though. But I forgive it because we stay on humanity side, where the eyes are, where it is exciting to see monsters.