by Benjamin Haines » Wed May 10, 2017 8:38 am
Banno's drive to turn a new 3D Godzilla movie into reality lasted for more than a decade, but he made it happen. We'll never know if Legendary, Warner Bros., or any other Hollywood studio would have taken an interest in reviving Godzilla in the modern era if Banno hadn't been pitching his 3D project, but that's what he did and the existence of 2014's Godzilla is the end result of all those years of determination. From that movie, this entire Monsterverse in the making was spawned. If it's true that Tomoyuki Tanaka did ban Banno from ever working on another Godzilla project, then Banno certainly succeeded in overcoming that restriction and making another significant contribution to Godzilla series history.
As for his first contribution to the series, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is one of my longtime favorites. It's such a fun and unique product of its time: an anti-pollution film with a superhero Godzilla and a groovy '70s aesthetic. It's one-of-a-kind and there will never be another Godzilla movie like it. I'm going to watch it again tonight.
R.I.P. Yoshimitsu Banno