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Godzilla (1998 film)

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Godzilla
Theatrical poster
Directed byRoland Emmerich
Written byScreenplay:
Dean Devlin
Roland Emmerich
Story:
Ted Elliott (Orignal screenplay)
Terry Rossio (Original screenplay)
Dean Devlin
Roland Emmerich
Characters:
Toho Co., Ltd.
Produced byDean Devlin
StarringMatthew Broderick
Jean Reno
Maria Pitillo
Hank Azaria
Harry Shearer
CinematographyUeli Steiger
Edited byPeter Amundson
David Siegel
Music byDavid Arnold
Distributed byTriStar Pictures
Release dates
United States May 20, 1998
Japan July 11, 1998
Running time
139 min.
Countries United States
Japan Japan
LanguagesEnglish
Japanese (Dubbed)
Budget$130,000,000 USD (Estimated)
Box office$379,014,294 USD (Worldwide)

Godzilla is a 1998 American science fiction film. It is a Hollywood remake of the Japanese film of the same name. It was co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. The film was a critical failure, but a financial success which resulted in an animated spin-off series.

Plot

The film's opening credits play over a montage of French nuclear tests in French Polynesia, observed by lizards in 1968. One of their eggs is irradiated by the fallout.

30 years later, a Japanese fishing ship is attacked by an unseen, giant monster that attacks from below the water: only one Japanese sailor survives. Traumatized, he is questioned in a hospital by a French agent as to what he saw. His only reply is "Gojira", which is later romanized as "Godzilla".

Another attack near the Eastern Seaboard culminates in the eventual destruction of a fleet of fishing ships. The crew survive, after witnessing their boat sinking, but it shoots up from underneath and lands with a huge splash in the surface.

Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos, an NRC scientist, located in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone researching the effects of radiation on wildlife, is interrupted by the arrival of an agent of the U.S. State Department. He is sent to Panama, escorted by the military, to observe the wreckage of the recovered Japanese fishing ship and a set of massive footprints in the grassy soil. The Frenchman is also there, observing the scene and introduces himself as an insurance agent. Aboard a military aircraft, Nick identifies skin samples he discovered as belonging to an animal "unknown to science". He dismisses the military's theory that the creature is a reawakened dinosaur, theorising that its origins in French Polynesia make it a mutant created by nuclear testing.

An old man is seen fishing on the dock. He takes a bite from his fishing rod, and a big wave comes toward him after a few minutes of trying to pull in his line. The big wave happens to be Godzilla, and he emerges from the dock. Godzilla then travels to Manhattan and creates havoc in the city, killing dozens of people, causing massive property damage, then disappearing. Godzilla is revealed to be a gigantic, bipedal marine iguana that towers over much of the New York skyline. The city is evacuated and the military attempt to destroy Godzilla, first luring him out with a huge pile of fish. He takes the bait, but is scared off by small arms fire and retaliates by breathing strong gusts of combustible wind. The Flatiron Building is accidentally destroyed during the small arms fire.

Godzilla is chased by three AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, who destroy the top of the Chrysler Building. He then disappears again. After the battle, Nick collects a blood sample, whence he learns that Godzilla reproduces asexually and is collecting food for his children. Nick is determined to find Godzilla's nest.

A videotape from Panama is stolen by Nick's ex-girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds, a would-be TV journalist for news channel WIDF, and broadcast by her superior. The military is outraged by the broadcasting of the classified tape and Nick is thrown off the team. Nick is then kidnapped by the French scientist, who introduces himself as Philippe Roaché, an agent of the DGSE, the French Secret Service. He and his team have been keeping close watch on events, and now mean to confront Godzilla.

The military lures out Godzilla again, trying to trap him in the open ground of Central Park, but fail when he flees, aware that the army is preparing to attack again. The creature dives into the waters of the Hudson River, where he is attacked by three U.S. Navy nuclear submarines. Two submarines fire torpedoes at Godzilla, but hit their compatriot Anchorage instead. The other submarines fire again; Godzilla is shot and appears to be dead. The military celebrate their apparent victory.

Nick and Philippe's special ops team, surreptitiously followed by Audrey and cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti, track through the subway tunnels to Madison Square Garden, finding hundreds of man-sized eggs. While the team plants explosives, the eggs begin to hatch and the baby Godzillas begin to feed on the fish left to them. When they run out, they begin hunting and eating the team. During the commotion, Animal and Audrey find their way into the Garden. After failing to contain the babies and losing several members of the team, Nick, Philippe, Animal and Audrey take refuge in a TV broadcast booth. Believing that the babies will eventually force humanity into extinction if they escape, Nick, Audrey and Animal alert the authorities, who order an immediate strike by a trio of F/A-18 Hornets. The four escape just before the building is destroyed, and the babies are burned to death.

Seconds later, Godzilla, who survived the attack, emerges from the wreckage. He sees his dead children, and assuming they were responsible for killing his children, Godzilla chases Nick, Philippe, Animal and Audrey. The group escape in a taxicab and are almost eaten, but they manage to alert the military about Godzilla's survival. They then lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn Bridge, where he becomes helplessly trapped in the steel suspension cables and is an easy target for the returning fighter planes. Godzilla is then hit mercilessly by twelve missiles, whereupon he falls to the ground and slowly dies.

The crowd and the military celebrates Godzilla's death. As Nick, Audrey and Animal reconcile, Philippe quietly leaves, taking the videotape Animal had recorded which details the entire incident for "re-editing". The film ends in the smoking ruins of Madison Square Garden, it is revealed a single Godzilla egg has survived the bombing. A baby hatches from it, and roars.

Creature design

Patrick Tatopoulos was contacted early on by Emmerich and asked to design the new Godzilla. According to Tatopoulos, the only specific instructions Emmerich gave him was that Godzilla should be able to run incredibly fast.[1] Godzilla's color scheme was based on the urban environment of New York so that the monster would be able to blend in with its environment.[1] At one point, it was planned to use motion capture from a human to create the movements of the computer-generated Godzilla, but it ended up looking too much like a man in a suit.[2]

Cast

Animated series

An animated series called Godzilla: The Series was made which continued the storyline of the film. In the series, Tatapoulos accidentally discovers the egg that survived the destruction of the nest. The creature hatches and imprints on Nick as its parent. Subsequently, Nick and his associates form a research team, investigating strange occurrences and defending mankind from dangerous mutations.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Godzilla was released in March of 1998 and included a selection of popular alternative rock and hip hop artists from the era. Several songs on the soundtrack (such as Silverchair's "Untitled" and Fuzzbubble's "Out There") were previously unreleased outtakes and leftovers that had remained unreleased until their inclusion on the Godzilla album. Allmusic guide gave the album a rating of 2.5 from 5 stars[3].

Godzilla Soundtrack (Reprise Records) [Cat. #971-0092]

  1. "Heroes" - The Wallflowers
  2. "Come with Me" - Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Page
  3. "Deeper Underground" - Jamiroquai
  4. "No Shelter" - Rage Against the Machine
  5. "Air" - Ben Folds Five
  6. "Running Knees" - Days of the New
  7. "Macy Day Parade" - Michael Penn
  8. "Walk the Sky" - Fuel
  9. "A320" - Foo Fighters
  10. "Brain Stew" (The Godzilla Remix) - Green Day
  11. "Untitled" - Silverchair
  12. "Out There" - Fuzzbubble
  13. "Undercover" - Joey DeLuxe
  14. "Opening Titles" - David Arnold
  15. "Looking for Clues" - David Arnold

Marketing

The marketing campaign for Godzilla was multi-pronged in its execution:

  • Crushed cars were dotted around London as a part of a guerrilla advertising campaign.
  • In the month or so before its release, ads on street corners made references to Godzilla's size in comparison to whatever medium of advertising the advertisement was on. For example, buses that said, "His foot is as long as this bus" or on billboards that said, "His head is the size of this sign."
  • Before the release of the film, Godzilla was never shown in its entirety, only in bits and pieces. This was intended to add a bit of mystery to the creature's design, thereby prompting audiences to pay for a ticket because the only way to see Godzilla as a whole was in theaters. Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin insisted that extensive measures had been taken to keep the new look of Godzilla secret, prior to release. When images leaked out onto the internet, Sony Pictures insisted it was part of a massive disinformation campaign designed to keep people guessing about what Godzilla looked like. Ultimately, however, the circulated drawings proved to be authentic.
  • KB Toys dubbed itself "Godzilla Headquarters" around the time of the film's release.
  • Taco Bell had tie-ins such as cups and toys that promoted the film. The Taco Bell chihuahua was also at the height of its popularity in Taco Bell's television commercials. During the summer of 1998, several commercials pairing Godzilla with the Taco Bell mascot were produced and aired, including several with the chihuahua trying to catch Godzilla in a tiny box, whistling and calling, "Here, lizard, lizard, lizard." When Godzilla appears, the chihuahua says, "Uh-oh. I think I need a bigger box."
  • The film's first teaser trailer began appearing in theaters a full year before the movie was released. The trailer featured a shot of Godzilla's foot coming through the roof of a museum and crushing a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.
  • Another teaser shown on New Year's Eve was intended to resemble the countdown and Times Square Ball drop in New York City. As the countdown nears completion, the ball is knocked off its mechanism by Godzilla, who passes near the stunned and silent crowd.
  • Godzilla appeared in two Doritos commercials. Footage from the fish trap scenes was edited to replace the fish with large quantities of Doritos chips: one commercial depicted Godzilla consuming a whole semi trailer full of Doritos, while the other showed the creature eating a spicy variant of Doritos and jumping into the Hudson River.

Reception

You have to absorb such a film, not consider it. But my brain rebelled, and insisted on applying logic where it was not welcome.

— Roger Ebert [4]

Godzilla was initially projected to take in $90,000,000 in domestic sales during its opening weekend, to surpass the record set the year before by The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Actual opening weekend sales were a respectable $44,000,000, but clearly did not track with studio profit forecasts. Godzilla broke even in the U.S. market, taking in $136,314,294 at the domestic box office and $242,700,000 overseas ultimately making the film profitable, bringing the worldwide total to $379,014,294.[5]

New York City's Mayor is named Ebert, and his top adviser is named Gene, a reference to the famous film critiquing duo from TV's Siskel & Ebert. Both bear a strong physical resemblance to the real-life critics. This was an attempt at expressing displeasure at the negative reviews Siskel and Ebert had given the producers' previous films. Although Roger Ebert was somewhat amused by the parody, he gave Godzilla a negative review anyway.[4]

At the 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards, the film was nominated for five Razzies, including Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. It took home two overall for Maria Patillo as Worst Supporting Actress and for the film as Worst Remake or Sequel.

References

  1. ^ a b Rickitt, Richard (2006). Designing Movie Creatures and Characters: Behind the Scenes With the Movie Masters. Focal Press. pp. 74–76. ISBN 0-240-80846-0.
  2. ^ Rickitt, Richard (2000). Special Effects: The History and Technique. Billboard Books. p. 174. ISBN 0-8230-7733-0.
  3. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wcfexqljldfe
  4. ^ a b Ebert, Roger. Godzilla review rogerebert.suntimes.com. 5-26-1998. Retrieved on 5-11-09
  5. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=godzilla.htm

External links

Template:Box Office Leaders USA Template:Box Office Leaders

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