A serious and tough question to those who can answer it.

[Legion]

[sachiel]

[MouthForWar]

[kiryugoji04]

Yeah... he's kinda filled the void ScottA left...

:kitty:

[jrichreturns]

Yes Japanese love Western movies but even they prefer their kaiju as suits or puppets. Its more of a story issue. I mean majority of the Godzilla films did better than the better looking Gamera trilogy in ticket sales. And listen zekend

America can afford to have massive budgets, we have a much larger population. For a 60 million dollar or 90 million dollar movie to be a success in Japan a huge portion of the population would ahve to go(more than realistically possible) and as a side note many people avoid theatres now in Japan and America because they can download films on the net, one major reason that is is because a movie ticket costs 20 american dollars a pop. What movie would you go see for a 20 dollar ticket? Hell, I would stop going to theatres entirely. The only way a movie like that would make Toho money is if it were shown worldwide. Then you have to take in consideration distributing rights and other factors.

Anyway Gamera 3 was a very good film(fx wise, acting wise, etc) and it was made on a budget much smaller than a Godzilla film.

zekend, being respectful and what not, please research this more. don't to down you or anything, cause im not that kind of person. I disagree.

[kiryugoji04]

[zekend01]

[kiryugoji04]

Eh, whatever. It seems pretty obvious to me that the U.S. and Japanese film industries are NOT exactly the same and therefore follow different methods and systems. Just because you know a lot about one doesn't mean you know anything about another. I guess the gist of my point is that if they say they want to use suitimation, how can you know for a fact that they aren't being completely serious?

MY opinion is that if they want to use suitimation, that's fine by me. Both that method and CGI can be done well, though honestly, I love the atmosphere tangible suits and miniatures create. I like to know that I could reach out and touch them.

And off the top of my head, ScottA was the only other person who pushed for straight-up CGI and the abolishment of traditional FX as much as you. That's all.

[jrichreturns]

Im a republican,there is nothing wrong with that, but politics aside I dont mean to be disrespectful, but you dont seem to understand how Japanese culture views certain things, and thats fine i dont expect you to. And the thought of having such exxorpant budgets in Japan would make no sense. Huge budgets over there are 30 million dollars. It would be insane to have such a high budget over there unless 80% of the population went. But thats looney.

So the points are:

1. Not trying offend you, just trying to say there are some major differences in American and Japanese film
2.Im republican, proud of it:D. hahaha

[zekend01]

Well don't you think that tapping into foreign markets have always been the goal since the very first movie? We all know it has, and it has been well documented. That's why Toho has allowed their films to be butchered through the years and I don't even have to mention GINO, do I? I mean, come on! They approved it!

With this in mind, it follows logically that if they want to compete on a world market they are going to have to up the ante on effects or drown. I love suitmation. Very very much. It's been a long time part of the fabric of my life. But to most folks (the not so serious fans, the non-fans) it just doesn'y really cut it anymore.

But don't you think Toho would want the yen/dollor of those folks TOO?!?! Of COURSE they do!!!!

To compete they're going to have to go CGI. I feel that the day could and will come. I just hope they do it right and not follow suite with GINO too much.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Gamera 3. GMK. That is all -_-.

[jrichreturns]

Still no Japanese company would ever do something like a 100 million dollar film. No Japanese company has ever done anything close to that.

And to compete you do not need CGI entirely, you need suitmation thats enhanced with CGI. Hulk or the Beast from Brotherhood of the Wolf were cartoons, you need suimtation, puppets, animatronics, and CGI. Even some of the stuff for GINO was done with puppetry in some respect.

[zekend01]

I'll tell you this, I just saw 'Ultraman: The Next' and I was absolutely FLOORED . All I could think was, "Why In the HELL can't Toho give us a Godzilla movie as good as this?!? WHY?!? " It was the best mix of suit and CGI EVER. Fantastic, absolutely fantastic story and the characters were awesome... I could truely go on about it forever!

If we had Godzilla movies as good as this I'd die a happy fan! If you haven't seen this movie yet, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR! It was that good.

[kiryugoji04]

[gamemanual]

[zekend01]

[kiryugoji04]

[Lord Ghidorah]

Gamera 3 is frequently touted as the daikaiju eiga ne plus ultra, yet it has problems on par with Godzilla flicks.
Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow is the same way. It had great, and highly saturated, CGI.

What is the common thread between failings in these three names?
Plot.
Characterization.
Tone.

A movie with good, even GREAT, special effects can still fail to overwhelm the audience because of failings in P/C/T. Consider Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Interest.

Money counts. Money pays for good acting staff, good advertising, and good merchandise tie-ins. Money by itself doesn't guarantee good writing and oversight, though, and those are ultimately definitive.
Good P/C/T is an ultimately absolute must if a Godzilla movie is to overcome the foreign market's (read American) decades' worth of inbred (and I mean the term literally) resistance to Godzilla as anything but a kids' distraction.

[kidnicky]

[zekend01]

[MouthForWar]

[zekend01]

^^ YES! I enjoyed the nostolgic aspect in which it was done and the CG was at least top-of-the-line video game good. My only complaint is that it wasn't long enough! Heh.

[Temjin]

I was reading over this topic for a bit and I remembered that failed Godzilla US storyline and the original designs....Then it dawned on me: Why doesn't TOHO or $0NY put those designs/statues/renders/puppets to good use before they rot in Stan Winston's creature shop? I mean, certainly something good can be made from those....

Besides - They're scary enough to warrant a decent new-era kaiju film. I mean, look at Negadon - If the concept and storyline were expanded a little, the movie could actually appeal to a bigger audience, not just fans of kaiju films or old sci-fi films.

So, OT, I do think TOHO could restart the franchise with a bang, not necessarily a futuristic one like "Final Wars 2", but more along the lines of Godzilla Millenium - The world vs the invinceable King of the Monsters.

Since Japan's become acquainted with the idea of bigger budgets(Sinking of Japan) and working alongside the world's finest(Waner Bros. Japan), surely they, TOHO co. ltd., could do something with Sony Pictures Japan and Sony Pictures US to create a definitive bridge between both continents and give us an internationally appealing Kaiju flick.

If Kadokawa Shoten's open to it, why isn't TOHO?

[zekend01]

[Jays]