Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Everyone remember that Tomiyama stated that they hoped to revive Godzilla in "5 to 10" years? Well, that was in 2004. It's now 2009...5 years later.

This means that, at least according to Mr. Tomiyama, there's a very strong possibility that the next series could begin anywhere in the next 5 years (though it's pretty doubtful that it will be happening this year).

Yeah, this isn't really any new information, but at least it's something to get a little excited about considering how completely dead kaiju news has been as of late.

The way I look at it, GODZILLA: FINAL WARS, GAMERA THE BRAVE, and MONSTER X STRIKES BACK were all box office failures in Japan. REIGO is playing the indie circuit so its not going to make a ton of money. And giant monster imports KING KONG (2005) and CLOVERFIELD weren't hugely successful, while THE HOST did poorly.

Toho sees that Japanese audiences areen't turning out for giant monster movies so they've avoided them the past few years. And in 2006 Toho had their best year ever at the Japanese box office... until 2007 surpassed it, and then 2008 topped that.

I guess Toho could always throw us a curveball and suddenly announce a new Godzilla movie, but based on recent box office numbers I certainly wouldn't bet on it. I'm leaning more towards "5 years +" rather than "in the next few years".

I also don't think news has been completely dead on the kaiju front. While Toho and Kadokawa are taking a break, in 2008 alone from Japan there was MONSTER X STRIKES BACK, REIGO, the indie film G, ULTRA GALAXY, and SUPERIOR ULTRAMAN 8 BROTHERS, even the new GODMAN DVD short with Gaira... and that's just productions featuring giant monsters. That's not bad for a genre that's not exactly pulling big numbers these days.

Look everybody Godzilla aint comin' back anytime soon. Sorry. I even got myself all worked up about rumours flying around Japan two years ago that never turned into anything. What Keith stated is the unfortunate truth: GFW=BOMB , Gamera the Bomb, and Monster X Strikes back all were a sign of the times in Japan. People aren't going to the theater for their Giant Monster fix anymore. There are lots of Monsters on T.V. over there so that's the extent of how far fans have been taking it. But .....

If your seriously jonesing and can't re-watch any of your Godzilla dvd's for awhile try out that GODMAN featurette, wait for REIGO, Deep sea Beast RAIGA, "G", Watch Ultra -Galaxy Neo .... I don't know. I'm not too worried. Godzilla can stay sleeping until Toho can get their act together in the studio again as far as I'm concerned. Gamera, well .. That last one might have been the end. There are Giant rubber Monsters all over the place in Japan if you can get your head out of the sand long enough to notice them.

Guilala was however a flop mostly cause of its very cheap production value IMO. It didnt look very convincing and even Iwakura CAST even knocked it in an article they had that accompanied a figure.

However with the decline of Jpanese movies and the outragoeus prices at theatres tehre, a Godzilla tv or anime(maybe with wiriting akin to Evangelion or Macross) could revive the series. Anime is extremely popular there in Japan and well look at Dai Guard for a good mecha/kaiju anime.

Agreed Sachiel. Anime helped make Deathnote more popular, and if there was a Godzilla anime can you imagine how many of the anime folk who act like kaiju is a travesty would be having Godzilla merchandise?

But then it would spawn a new generation of G fans that don't care for Godzilla as a kaiju and the Japanese Sci-Fi/Kaiju genre as whole. We'd never hear the end of how Anime > Man in rubber suit destroying cupboard buildings either.

Yeah. Screw anime.

Toho's problem is that they want people to pay money to see Godzilla in a movie theater. Nothing less. They're narrow minded and they probably won't be changing any time soon.