Richmond, VA, weatherman Aaron Justus predicts rain with a chance of Godzilla on Wednesday |
Please watch the weatherman's forecast below.
Richmond, VA, weatherman Aaron Justus predicts rain with a chance of Godzilla on Wednesday |
They calculated that Godzilla tail was so massive that the tip would reach super-sonic speeds |
Slate Magazine says Godzilla 2014 Takes it's Cues from Spielberg's Best |
It’s no coincidence that these mashups blend together so seamlessly. While Godzilla is ostensibly a reboot of the franchise started by Ishiro Honda in 1954, what it really does is break down the DNA of Spielberg blockbusters like Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and reconstitute it into a kind of successful clone and unofficial sequel.Read the rest of the comparisons at Slate.com
Most of the comparisons to Jaws and Jurassic Park have centered on the way Godzilla holds off on showing its monster until about an hour in. This comparison is spot on: As I documented (and charted) last week, Godzilla waits about 60 minutes before the big reveal, while Jaws waits 62 minutes and Jurassic Park waits 64 minutes (before showing the tyrannosaur). And Godzilla even teases the monster in a similar way—for the first hour of the film, all we see of him (or her) is his “fins” sticking above the water, just as in Jaws. Director Gareth Edwards himself has acknowledged this bit of inspiration, but this is only the beginning of the movie’s Spielbergian aspects.
Jason Horton and Erin Darling talk to Max Borenstein |
A portion of the Godzilla poster designed by Patrick Connan |
You can get all three colored versions |
Artist Art Adams does cover art for Godzilla 2014 Prequel |
ComicBook.com: The Pacific Rim hardcover was really well received. Were you able to look to that and see what you thought worked and didn’t to give you a sense for how to flesh out your universe? Or maybe it was just easier than I’m thinking because it’s Godzilla and of course you’re going to have a sense of where you want to take it next…You can read the rest of the interview at ComicBook.com's post titled "Godzilla writer Max Borenstein On Setting the Stage With Godzilla: Awakening Graphic Novel"
Borenstein: Nothing’s easy, but certainly we had an idea of what we wanted to do when it was first mentioned, that had to do with filling in certain elements of backstory that had popped up over the course of making the film and so it’s where my mind immediately went when Legendary said they wanted to do it.
I’m a fan of the Pacific Rim graphic novel, I’m a friend of Travis’s and I had seen it, read it and thought it was awesome so when they mentioned the idea of doing something that would tie into our Godzilla universe, I was really enthusiastic and excited to do that.
ComicBook.com: What’s the challenge of filling in these gaps without giving a way too much of the movie’s premise?
Borenstein: The interesting challenge of doing this has been to tell a story that feels coherent and whole in and of itself and that dovetails with the film we’re telling but that is something stnad-alone that you don’t need the film to appreciate and that you don’t need to have read to appreciate the film.
One of the structural challenges of it is that of course it takes place years before the film begins and in the film — it ends, without spoiling it, in such a way where only a small, select group of people are aware of the existence of Godzilla. So one might leap to the conclusion that in the film, only a small handful of people, starting out, are aware of the existence of Godzilla.
I’m not saying that’s the case but obviously one might leap that conclusion. The movie would serve then, obviously, as the world’s introduction to this creature — to this force of nature.
That’s a creative limitation, where we said, “Okay, how can we play in the sandbox of Godzilla before and on the timeline of the events of the film and yet, if you destroy a big city, you’re going to be giving away the ghost. So that was really an interesting challenge and it was really fun to kind of play with solutions.
Godzilla eating the Fiat 500L in a New Commercial |
With a Movie Camera in Tow a Soldier walks among Destruction |
Ken Watanabe and Aaron Taylor-Johnson react to fat shaming of Godzilla |
Cinema Blend: Japan has had a response to our new version of Godzilla. They are calling him an American fatty.
Ken Watanabe: No way! I don't think so. Not really!
CB: It's been on Twitter. They are saying he's gotten fat on cola and pizza. (Watanabe laughs.) What are your thoughts on Godzilla? Is he an American fatty now?
KW: No. He doesn't drink Diet Coke. But no. No way.
CB: He shouldn't be ashamed of his body?
KW: No. No! He's just all (he flexes his shoulders into a muscular hunch and sneers comically, which I took to mean "he's brawny"). I like that. (Scoffs) Please."
Cinema Blend: Japan's calling him "an American fatty."
Aaron Taylor-Johnson: Fatty! Who? Godzilla?
CB: Yeah, they said that in this version, he "got fat in America on cola and pizza," "he's SuperSized," [and] "he is couch potato Godzilla."
AT-J: Wow. That’s an interesting critic, that person.
Should you decide to invest in Warner Bros based on Godzilla? |
Tim says that initial reaction to Godzilla appears to be positive. The movie's style also seems to recall the slow and terrifying reveal of director Gareth Edwards' Monsters, an independent movie that vastly out-earned its modest budget. Vulture quotes Edwards as saying he was also influenced by Jurassic Park, which holds off showing the biggest dinosaurs till more than an hour into the movie.
How that will play with audiences is impossible to know at this point. But initial tracking says we can expect a $60 million debut and $500 million to $600 million in worldwide grosses by the time the movie ends its run in theaters. An impressive -- and likely profitable -- performance if those numbers hold, Tim says.
Nathan says that Warner investors shouldn't expect a massive hit. Last summer's giant monsters vs. giant robots epic, Pacific Rim, had trouble appealing to American audiences. Foreign moviegoers helped push the movie's overall tally to better than $400 million in grosses, yet that probably wasn't enough to produce profits after accounting for marketing, distribution, and revenue sharing with theater operators.