Godzilla (1998 film)

Godzilla (1998) is a science fiction film directed by Roland Emmerich and starred actor Matthew Broderick. It is very loosely based on the Japanese film Godzilla (1954). In the movie, Godzilla is a mutated iguana, rather than a mythical dinosaur-like creature in the original Japanese movies. It was officially dubbed Zilla by Toho studios in the film Final Wars, as they disliked it so much.

The plot of the film involves a giant mutated iguana from the Southern Pacific roaming around New York City. The monster lays eggs inside Madison Square Garden which hatch into miniature, T-Rex-like creatures. This tended to make the film somewhat reminiscent of Jurassic Park, as Godzilla's offspring are reminiscent of Velociraptors.

The soundtrack featured songs by such artists as Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page ("Come With Me"), Jamiroquai ("Deeper Underground"), Rage Against the Machine ("No Shelter"), Ben Folds Five (Air), and Green Day ("Brain Stew (remix)" ). The song "Heroes" by the Wallflowers can be clearly heard in the background during a restaurant scene early in the movie. David Arnold's orchestral score provided the music for the rest of the movie, and roughly four minutes of it is included in the album.

The script called for two sequels, yet despite the film becoming the third highest grossing film of 1998, there are currently no known plans to make them. The movie did, however, find life in the animated Saturday morning television series, The Series.

An unfinished sequel would have involved Godzilla battling a mutant insect creature, and the story bears a resemblence to the official Godzilla film Godzilla vs Megaguirus. However, a sequel will never be made- TriStar lost the rights to make another Godzilla film in 2003.

Marketing campaign

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

The tagline - "Size Does Matter" immediately became indistinguishible in the public consciousness with Godzilla.
Size comparisons - 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. Examples: "His foot is bigger than this bus," "His eye is bigger than this billboard," etc.
Secrecy - Bits and pieces of different body parts of Godzilla were shown on the TV commercials and on posters, but never the entire body. This was to add a bit of mystery as to the design of the creature, ideally prompting people to see the film because that was the only way to see the whole creature.
Taco Bell - The fast food chain 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, saying "Here Lizard, lizard, lizard."

Trivia

Zilla, a monster based on the Godzilla incarnation in this movie, appears in the movie Final Wars, and is annihilated in short order by the "true" Godzilla in Sydney. The commander of the alien invasion remarks upon Zilla's destruction, "I knew that tuna-eating monster was useless." This could be taken as Toho getting back at Tristar for their treatment of Godzilla.
It was rumored that Toho gave Sony specific instructions for doing the American Godzilla, but let Sony slip by because as they said at the time that they did like the new revamped idea. In actuality it was because they virtually ran out of room to manuever in terms of getting an American director on the project and ensuring that it would be derailed permanently, explaining why they resorted to using Emmerich and Devilin.
Some people believe that Emmerich hates the Japanese Godzilla. This is not true, and in an interview actually said that he was a Godzilla fan and understood why some fans dislike his creation.
Harry Knowles gave very positive reviews on this film. This caused controversy about the impartiality of his reviews, as his criticism was somewhat different from many other critics and it was believed that his positivity stemmed from the fact he was flown to the premiere, though Good Morning America's Joel Siegel gave it a positve review of "It's big, It's loud, It's fun!" that appears on the cover of the VHS and deluxe widescreen edition DVD releases of the film.
Many fans of the original Godzilla gave this Godzilla nicknames like "Zilla," taking "God" out of it, "Deanzilla" because of Dean Devlin, Fraudzilla, and "GINO," an acronym for "Godzilla In Name Only."
The old cook from the ship referred to the 'monster' as Gojira when he was in the semi-conscious state. Gojira is and always has been the proper name of Godzilla in his native Japan, but was somehow mangled (intentionally or otherwise) in the process of translating the original film into the American Godzilla, King Of The Monsters; in the film, Audrey comments on this in the cantina.
- The character of the mayor and his advisor are clearly caricatures of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. Reportedly, the less than flattering portrayal was because both had given negative reviews of Devlin and Emmerich's earlier film, Independence Day.
- The American version of Godzilla is also shown in a 2006 Doritos commercial, which parodies the bait scene, replacing tons of fish with a Doritos trailer.
- In the film "Godzilla , Mothra and King Ghidorah; Giant Monsters All Out Attack" (2001) they mention that a creature had attacked New York City and that the American officials thought it was Godzilla but the Japanese people knew it was not the monster. It is obvious that they are referring back to the US remake of Godzilla.
- The Histeria! episode "More Explorers" opened up with a cold opener in which a gigantic Big Fat Baby rises from the sea and goes on a rampage. The 1998 film is directly referenced right at the end of the segment by way of the caption "Smell does matter."
- The Japanese freighter destroyed in the openning of the film is named Kobayashi Maru, an homage to Star Trek, specifically the movie The Wrath of Khan.
External links
1998 films | American films | Godzilla films | Worst Picture Razzie Nominee | Films directed by Roland Emmerich | Films shot in Super 35
Godzilla (1998) | Godzilla (film, 1998) | Godzilla (film 1998) | GODZILLA | Godzilla (film 1998)

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Godzilla (1998 film)

Marketing campaign

Trivia

External links