Godzilla (1998 film)
| Godzilla | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Roland Emmerich |
| Produced by | Dean Devlin |
| Written by | Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin |
| Starring | Matthew Broderick Jean Reno Maria Pitillo Hank Azaria |
| Music by | David Arnold |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 19, 1998 |
| Running time | 139 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US $125,000,000 (according to The-Numbers.com) |
| Followed by | Godzilla: The Series ,Godzilla: Final Wars |
| IMDb profile | |
Godzilla is an American science fiction film directed by Roland Emmerich and starred Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Michael Lerner and Kevin Dunn. It was inspired by the Japanese film Gojira (Godzilla).
Tagline:
- Size does matter.
Contents |
Plot
The film's opening credits play over a montage of French nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, observed by many marine iguana. Cut to the present day. A Japanese factory fishing ship is attacked by a unseen monster, and only one old man survives. He is later questioned in hospital by a mysterious Frenchman (Jean Reno) and says only one word - "Gojira".
The Americans become involved when a set of huge footprints and a trail of destruction appear across Panama, culminating in merchant ship wrecked and ripped open - it's cargo was tinned fish. NRC scientist Niko "Nick" Tatapolous (Matthew Broderick) who was researching the effects of radiation on wildlife in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is brought into the team. The Frenchman is also there observing the scene and introduces himself as an insurance agent. Aboard a military aircraft Tatapolous identifies skin samples he recovered as belonging to a creature unknown to science.
zilla travels to "the City that never sleeps", dragging three fishing boats under the sea on the way, then creating havoc in the Fulton Fish Market, before rampaging through the city. Manhattan is evacuated and the military attempt to kill zilla, first luring him out with a huge pile of fish. zilla takes the bait, but the shugs off small arms fire, and evades helicopter gunships. zilla escapes, but not before Nick realises the "he" is pregnant and collecting food for his offspring. Nick is determined to find zilla's nest.
However when a videotape from Panama is stolen by Nick's ex-girlfriend, Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), a would-be TV journalist for news channel "WIDF", he is thrown off the team. He is then kidnapped by the Frenchman who introduces himself as Philippe Roaché, an agent of the DGSE - the French Secret Service. He and his team have been keeping close watch on events and are now ready to do what that can to clear up the mess they feel responsible for, but cannot acknowledge.
The military lure zilla out again and after a fierce battle, seemingly destroy him in the East River. Meanwhile Nick and the French team, surreptitiously followed by Audrey and cameraman Victor 'Animal' Palotti (Hank Azaria), track zilla through the subway tunnels to Madison Square Garden, finding hundreds of eggs there. They start to lay explosives, but the eggs start to hatch. After a fierce battle all of the Frenchmen are killed, apart from Roaché, and they take refuge in the TV broadcast booth. From there Nick, Audrey and Animal alert the authorities, who order an immediate strike by a trio of F-18s. The four escape just before the building is destroyed, only for an extremely angry zilla to emerge from the wreckage. The four make a getaway in a taxicab, and lure zilla to Brooklyn Bridge where he becomes entangled in the steel suspension cables, and is an easy target for the fighters. zilla is finally killed. Nick and Audrey reconcile. Roaché disappears into the night. However in the smoking ruins of Madison Square Garden a single egg survives...
Music
The film's soundtrack featured songs by such artists as Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page ("Come with Me"), Jamiroquai ("Deeper Underground"), Rage Against the Machine ("No Shelter"), Foo Fighters ("A320"), Ben Folds Five ("Air"), and Green Day ("Brain Stew (Remix)" ). The David Bowie song "Heroes", covered by the Wallflowers, can be clearly heard in the background during a restaurant scene early in the movie. David Arnold's orchestral score provided the music for the rest of the movie, and roughly four minutes of it is included on the album.
Sequels
A film sequel would have involved Godzilla battling a mutant insect creature, and the story bears a resemblance to the official Godzilla film Godzilla vs Megaguirus. However the plans for this sequel were scrapped.
The film spawned an animated series which continued the storyline of the movie. In this series, Nick, the professor hired to provide information on Godzilla, discovers an egg that survived the destruction and becomes almost a father-figure to the youngling, who imprinted on him as a parent. Subsequently, he and a group of friends form an elite research team, investigating both Godzilla and numerous other monsters, including an alien invasion that recreated the Godzilla seen in this movie as a cyborg (This caused some confusion in the new Godzilla, who was unsure whether to side with the cyborg or Nick, but, in the end, chose to accept Nick as his 'parent').
Marketing campaign
The marketing campaign for Godzilla was multi-pronged in its execution:
- Crushed cars were dotted around London as a part of a guerilla advertising campaign.
- The tagline, "Size Does Matter", immediately became indistinguishable in the public consciousness with Godzilla.
- In the month or so before its release, ads on street corners made references to Godzilla's size in comparison to whatever medium of advertising the advertisement was on.
- Examples: "His foot is bigger than this bus", "His eye is bigger than this billboard", etc.
- Bits and pieces of different body parts of Godzilla were shown on TV commercials and posters, but never the entire body; this was to add a bit of mystery as to the design of the creature, ideally prompting people to see the film because that was the only way to see the whole creature.
- Taco Bell had tie-ins such as cups and toys that promoted the film. The Taco Bell chihuahua was also at the height of its popularity in Taco Bell's television commercials. During the summer of 1998, several commercials pairing Godzilla with the Taco Bell mascot were produced and aired, including several with the chihuahua trying to catch Godzilla in a tiny box, whistling and calling, "Here, lizard, lizard, lizard." When Godzilla appears, the chihuahua says, "Uh-oh. I think I need a bigger box."
Box office
Godzilla grossed $136,314,294 domestically and $379,014,294 worldwide, bringing back its $125 million budget. Here is the chart when the film was on the top 10.
| Gross | Rank | Total |
|---|---|---|
| $44,047,541 | 1 | $58,493,223 |
| $18,020,444 | 1 | $99,326,687 |
| $9,712,119 | 3 | $114,014,285 |
| $6,202,337 | 5 | $123,653,780 |
| $2,980,534 | 8 | $129,206,880 |
Trivia
- The creature from this film was officially dubbed "Zilla" by Toho Studios in the film Godzilla: Final Wars. According to Ryuhei Kitamura, the monster was given this name because the American movie had taken the "God" out of "Godzilla". Zilla was annihilated in short order by the "true" Godzilla and the commander of the alien invasion remarks upon his destruction, "I knew that tuna-eating monster was useless"; this could be taken as Toho getting back at TriStar for their perceived mistreatment of Godzilla.
- Before Toho officially named the creature "Zilla", it was referred to by many nicknames to differentiate it from the original Godzilla. These nicknames included "American Godzilla", "Fraudzilla", "Deanzilla" (because of writer/producer Dean Devlin), and "G.I.N.O.", an acronym for "Godzilla In Name Only.".
- Some people believe that Roland Emmerich hates the Japanese Godzilla, but this is not true; in an interview, Emmerich actually said that he was a Godzilla fan and understood why some fans dislike his creation.
- In Sabrina The Teenage Witch Episode 22 of the third season, towards the end of the episode Sabrina encounters a large dinosaur and attempts to speak with it in Japanese. The dinosaur then tells her that he speaks French. This is a reference to Godzilla being from French Polynesia.
- The old cook from the ship refers to the monster as "Gojira" when he is in a semi-conscious state. Gojira is and always has been the proper name of Godzilla in his native Japan, but was somehow mangled (intentionally or otherwise) in the process of translating the original film into the American Godzilla, King of the Monsters; in the film, Audrey Timmonds comments on this in the cantina: "And it's 'Gojira', you moron!"
- The characters of the mayor (Lerner) and his advisor are clearly caricatures of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. Reportedly, the less-than-flattering portrayal was because both had given negative reviews of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's earlier film, Independence Day. When the actual Siskel and Ebert reviewed Emmerich's Godzilla on their show, it received two thumbs down and Siskel commented on being spoofed in the film, saying it was "petty."
- The American version of Godzilla is shown in a 2006 Doritos commercial, which parodies the bait scene, replacing the tons of fish with a Doritos trailer.
- In the film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, it is mentioned that a creature had attacked New York City and that American officials thought it was Godzilla but the Japanese knew it was not the monster; it is obvious that they are referring to TriStar's remake of Godzilla.
- The Histeria! episode "More Explorers" opened up with a cold opener in which a gigantic Big Fat Baby rises from the sea and goes on a rampage. The film is directly referenced right at the end of the segment by way of the caption "Smell does matter."
- The Japanese freighter attacked and destroyed by Godzilla in the opening of the film is named Kobayashi Maru, in homage to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- The extra killed in his car when Godzilla first arrives in Manhattan was cast as a look-alike for J.D. Lees, editor of G-Fan Magazine, because he said disparaging remarks about the information that leaked out about the film prior to its release.
- The music that plays on an elevator in a scene with Matthew Broderick is "Danke Schoen", which Broderick lip-synchs in a memorable scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
- The first sequence of the AH64-Apache gunships chasing after Godzilla through the streets references both Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back with the line, "Echo 4 to Echo Base", and Star Wars with "He's right on my tail! I can't shake him!" Both lines were spoken by Luke Skywalker.
- Matthew Broderick's character's last name is "Tatopoulos." Godzilla's designer and supervisor is Patrick Tatopoulos.
- The film is dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka, who produced all of the Japanese Godzilla movies and died only a month before this film began actual production.
- The film's first teaser trailer began appearing in theaters a full year before the movie was released. The trailer featured a shot of Godzilla's foot coming through the roof of a museum and crushing a T-Rex skeleton.
- Dean Devlin maintains that the tagline for this movie, "Size Does Matter", was meant simply to differentiate the movie from Jurassic Park, hence the original "museum" trailer, but that the advertisers for the studio took it too far with their overzealous campaign (e.g. "His foot is as long as this bus"). The ads became the biggest focus of the backlash against the movie, especially considering that size was what ultimately ended up killing the monster.
- Three voice actors from the comedy series The Simpsons appear in the film: Harry Shearer, Nancy Cartwright and Hank Azaria.
- The 2nd MST3K Summer Blockbuster review mentioned Godzilla in which Crow T. Robot called it "one of the crappier big movies of the summer". The focus of the joke, however is that they are forbidden from showing any clips to prevent a lawsuit. In fact, Crow claims he can't even say the name of the movie without getting sued, which causes his voice to be partially bleeped out every time he says "Godzilla". He then shows his own "giant lizard movie" "Goshzilla" made by simply filming him ramming a Godzilla doll into cardboard cutout buildings and plastic pedestrians. He then comments "And it's Matthew Broderick free! Oh, and Mike payed a quarter to see it, so it's already made more of a profit than *bleep*zilla."
External links
- GODZILLA 1998 Database
- Barry's Temple of Godzilla
- Toho Kingdom
- Godzilla Stomp
- The Godzilla Shrine
- Godzilla at the Internet Movie Database
- The 1998 Taco Bell commercial used to promote the film.
- A recent Doritos commercial featuring the creature (Under "ads")
- Godzilla vs. The Gryphon (the original Godzilla script)
Categories
1912 films | American films | Godzilla films | Worst Picture Razzie Nominee | Films directed by Roland Emmerich | Films shot in Super 35 | Film remakes | TriStar films