New Toho Godzilla Series after Legendary

[lhb412]

Haha! Two more years of this exact conversation over and over and over again, then after that two years of arguing how Gareth Edwards and Co. will approach Mothra!

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Russzilla]

Do you think there's a small chance that Toho will give some thought about rebooting this Godzilla from where Godzilla Tokyo SOS left off? (referring to the end credits scene) Just a random thought.

[kiryugoji04]

Hideaki Anno's tokusatsu exhibit combined with Higuchi's God Warrior film have supposedly done a lot to help revitalize interest in Japanese-style practical effects amongst the general public. It would be a crying shame for Toho to go the all-CG route when they have such a huge opportunity to do something really special that could help the reputation of practical effects even more. A Godzilla movie with as much visual panache as Gamera 3 or Geharha? But now with this huge international spotlight? The mind boggles at the possibilities. A Japanese, fully CG Godzilla would probably be the final nail in the coffin for this genre. I really hope they'll at least take the 50/50 approach that Higuchi is using to bring Attack on Titan to life.

[klen7]

[planetxleader]

[Pkmatrix]

[planetxleader]

[Pkmatrix]

[planetxleader]

That's the entire point, I think, though. We're getting America Godzilla again in 2018. If they had announced some side-project between now and then, I'd be like "kay," but this is TOHO announcing it. That's what made the news exciting to begin with, not that it's merely a new Godzilla movie.

I mean, I'm sure Yamakazi can make a good and entertaining movie, and if it's solid I'd be able to enjoy it, but completely forgoing miniatures is kind of an insult to the genre, considering what Higuchi's Tokusatsu Museum has done to raise awareness about it.

[planetxleader]

In fact, I feel I should back up my "baah, tradition!" point with something more important:

Practical effects with reasonable CGI is what's going to produce the best-looking product, which is the whole point of reviving Godzilla again: for Toho to show off their stuff.

Watch the intro do Always 2, and then watch Higuchi's God Warrior, and tell me that Toho shouldn't go the latter route.

Hell, I think I may resort to linking to God Warrior every time someone talks about an all-CG Japanese Godzilla.

[Pkmatrix]

[Legion]

An all CG Japanese Godzilla film? Because that's NOT going to look atrocious? I don't think I could deal with staring at a Japanese-level CGI Godzilla for 90 minutes or however long this new movie ends up being. An American CGI Godzilla? That's fine, because American studios have the money and skill to make that work.

But to me, the appeal of Japanese monster films is with the technique. That's why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. There's no way to convince me that an all CGI Godzilla is not only going to look terrible, but it's also going to have absolutely no soul. Personally, I think this is going to be something a lot of people are going to be very excited for...until they actually see it. It's just a gut feeling I have.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Pkmatrix]

[lhb412]

A funny thought occurred to me: after all the complaints about Godzilla 2014 having too few monster scenes what if Toho's film has even less? I mean, if they're going the all-CGI route it may make sense to concentrate on only a brief few minutes of footage?

Wouldn't that rile everyone up!

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Pkmatrix]

[Gwangi]

Regardless of who the director will be, will Toho give him latitude? GMK would probably have been a lot more interesting had we seen Angillus and Varan as Kaneko wanted, instead of another Mothra and Ghidrah. On the other hand, some might say that Toho gave too much latitude to Ryûhei Kitamura for "Final Wars" and thus to some, it resulted in a mess. It will be interesting to see as this project progresses.

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm not against CGI at all. Even if they did end up portraying Godzilla via suitmation, I'd expect them to use CGI whenever it was needed, like in the Millennium Series. If Toho had the capacity to really deliver a state-of-the-art, realistic-looking CGI Godzilla, that would be fantastic to see. Really though, there's optimism and then there's just pie-in-the-sky whimsy. An all-CGI Godzilla produced by Toho cannot possibly stack up to the kind of photorealistic CGI everybody sees from Hollywood every day, and it will inevitably look like a pitiful knockoff of what Legendary did with their CGI Godzilla just this year, which was the entire catalyst for Toho announcing this new project in the first place. I think it would be a damn shame if Toho's first Godzilla film in over 10 years is reduced to imitating Hollywood special effects with vastly inferior results.

I do think Toho should utilize practical effects, monster suits, and miniatures to their fullest potential with this new film, not for the sake of tradition but because it's a tremendously unique asset that can give this project an identity all its own. None of Legendary's Godzilla films are going to feature physical monster suits and props or miniature buildings getting smashed. That's something that Toho can present to set themselves apart, to show the world the kind of Godzilla they can only get from Japan, and to showcase what modern technology and craftsmanship can accomplish with the old-fashioned techniques. I'd much rather this movie be 'the original-style Japanese Godzilla, updated by Toho,' than 'the Japanese Godzilla that came out between G'14 and G'18 and featured a really inferior CGI Godzilla to Hollywood's version.'

[daikaijusaurus]

This is just pure speculation on my part, but I highly doubt that Toho will go all out CGI with this new film. And I don't think at all that it's about keeping the tradition, it's about what's practical for Toho. They don't spend the time nor the money on films as Hollywood does. So I think we will definitely get an updated take on tokusatsu, with suitmation, miniatures and CGI effects.

At the end of the day, to me it does't matter at all what they do, as long as they deliver a good film. That's all that matters to me. Give a great artist either a paint brush or a wacom stylus, and he/she will produce a great work of art. It's the art that matters not the tool.

[Cookie]

What kind of film could Kaneko give us after a 12 year hiatus?

Title will be Rebirth of Godzilla... Calling it right now.

[klen7]

Potential titles:

Godzilla Awakens
Godzilla: Finaler Wars
Godzilla Into Darkness
The Godzilla
Godzillas
Godzilla 2
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 3
Godzilla vs Zilla

[DannyBeane]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[jellydonut25]