Godzilla's Screen Time: Most and Least in the Series?

[jellydonut25]

[DannyBeane]

I like Desplat's score

[Gman2887]

[goji4ever]

Goji screen time in 2014 is low but his presence looms large throughout...that wasn't always the case in older films..

[MekaGojira3k]

I don't think desplat's score is AMAZING, but I do like it fairly well. I get some of what Jelly's saying, but it just doesn't irritate me enough to say the whole thing is terrible.

[Jorzilla]

[Gman2887]

[jellydonut25]

I feel like I'm surmising that Godzilla's screen time is inversely proportional to film quality.

He's in the movie for a QUARTER of Hedorah? Then how in the hell is that movie so BORING I'd rather take a good, long whiff of Hedorah itself than watch the movie?

I'd be willing to bet when/if Joker Cluster gets to the Heisei films, we'll see some with some LARGE percentages/screen times for Godzilla...
...and SCREW those movies. I mean, is anyone gonna sit here and tell me that Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla is more riveting than Godzilla 2014? No? Alright then. Godzilla's screen time doesn't matter.

[Reaper G]

Note how Godzilla had less screen time in "Monster Zero" than he did in G14. But then he was sharing a screen with Rodan, Ghidorah, and Nick Adams. But then he isn't a title character for most of the movie's titles, from "Kaiju daisenso" to "Invasion of Astro Monster".

[walshiam]

I was thinking exactly the same thing this past week. Godzilla has taken second billing in most of the films from the '60's and didn't get top billing until the '70's. The titles starting with "King Kong vs. Godzilla" all had the "other" monster given top billing and a good chunk of screen time. King Kong, Mothra, Ghidrah (Monster Zero), Ebirah and even Minya (Baby Godzilla) in "Son of Godzilla" all got a large amount of screen time before Godzilla which is hardly different from the same formula used in G'14. I think the argument of less screen time given to the title character is nonsense based on this fact. However, I do think there would be hardly an argument if the title had been "MUTO vs. Godzilla" and most would have said nothing of the kaiju "guest stars" and lack of screen time. I do expect it to be no different in the next film with Mothra, Ghidorah and Rodan getting a chunk of screen time even before Godzilla shows up. Why? Because Godzilla's appearence is geared in RESPONSE to the other monster(s) appearing first.. This is true even with the films from the '70"s where Godzilla was never the first to show up.

[Gman2887]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Jared]

Depends on the film. GODZILLA (1954) gets a lot of mileage out of its small amount of Godzilla footage, mainly because it has a compelling script and there's always a tension in the air, even when Godzilla is off-screen. GODZILLA (2014) seems to set the same goal in this regard, but in my opinion mostly fails because the story and characters are quite dull. When the Godzilla scenes finally do come, they're awesome and well worth the wait, but that doesn't excuse the rest of the movie.

[walshiam]

I found the characters likable, as likable as any characters from other G movies.

[jellydonut25]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Dai]

[Legion]

[Gman2887]

[Gman2887]

Jokercluster has completed the Showa series. Here's the (rounded) percentage of how much screen time Godzilla takes up per movie. The 2014 movie thrown in for comparison since we know it:

Gojira - 9.1%
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 10.9%
Godzilla Raids Again - 10.0%
King Kong vs. Godzilla - 9.5%
Mothra vs. Godzilla - 11.9%
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster - 8.6%
Monster Zero - 6.1%
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster - 14.9%
Son of Godzilla - 13.9%
Destroy All Monsters - 9.5%
Godzilla's Revenge - 11.8%
Godzilla vs. Hedorah - 24.1%
Godzilla vs. Gigan - 18.6%
Godzilla vs. Megalon - 12.9%
Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla* - 9%
Terror of MechaGodzilla - 11.5%
Godzilla '14 - 6.5%

The average percentage of Godzilla's screen time per Showa movie is 12.1% or 10 minutes and 30 seconds. (I did not include KOTM with this average.)

*If you include the "Fake" Godzilla scenes the percentage bumps up to 17.9%.

[Psycho Soldier]

Great stuff; thanks for this. So far, I think I can generalize a bit. Where Godzilla has less than 10% of the total screen time, the movies are ones that I enjoy a lot. Once we hit 10% or above, it gets a hell of a lot dicier. I can't say that more Godzilla makes for a worse movie. But I can say that I don't like Hedorah or Gigan very much. On the other hand, Sea Monster and SOG are perfectly fine in my book.

Can't wait to see results for the Heisei films. I really wonder what percentage of screen time he has in SpaceGodzilla, since we were talking about it earlier in the thread.

[daikaijusaurus]

It's funny because Godzilla Vs Monster Zero is among my favorites (if not THE favorite) of the Godzilla movies, and he has only 6.1% screen time!! Before this thread I had no idea he had such a limited screen time, because when I watch this movie I am so into the story and characters that the movie just flies by so fast! And when Godzilla (and his friends of destruction) finally do show up, boy is it a blast!

[walshiam]

You have to admit though that it is a great example of scenes cut to short in comparison to G'14. The battle scenes with Godzilla, Rodan and King Ghidorah are cut way to short. They leave me unsatisfied.

[Gman2887]

[jellydonut25]