Godzilla Final Wars
By Mark Schaefer

Copyright 2004

“Godzillaaaa!!!” – The world premiere of Godzilla Final Wars was held on Monday,
November 29^th 2004 at the world famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.
This was the first time a Japanese-made Godzilla film premiered outside Japan (where the film
was released on December 4, 2004).

There’s plenty of secrecy surrounding the release of this highly anticipated film -- but Penny Blood
was there to get the scoop!  To commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of Godzilla, we were on site
when “The King of Monsters” received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

History:

In 1954, a Japanese fishing boat called the Daigo Fukuryu Maru accidentally strayed into
a U.S. Naval nuclear testing zone in the Pacific Ocean's Bikini Atoll. The fishermen near
the test site received near-fatal amounts of radiation.  At the same time, a large prehistoric
underwater creature called the “Gojira” (Godzillasaurus) was also exposed to the nuclear
blast.

Shortly thereafter, a series of horrible shipping disasters began to occur in Tokyo Bay, and
local fishing villages were attacked.  The survivors reported seeing “a very large and scary
looking sea monsters with radio-active breath.”

Twenty-eight motion pictures later, Godzilla is still stomping on Tokyo.

Godzilla Final Wars

Godzilla Final Wars is reportedly the most expensive Godzilla movie Toho Pictures has
ever produced. The film is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura.  It stars Masahiro Matsuoka,
Rei Kikukawa, and Tsutomu Kitagawa as the suit actor for “Godzilla.” 

 Penny Blood has been able to obtain these rare sneak preview images from Godzilla
Final Wars for our online fans.

Photos © 2004 Toho Co., Ltd

Godzilla Final Wars Story

Incessant wars and nuclear explosions have steadily eroded the global environment.
A large number of monsters have awakened from hibernation.  A group of talented
mutants, called the Earth-Defense Force, is assembled to combat the international
threat.

In Northern Japan, the mummy of a mysterious monster is found. The Earth-Defense
Force sends Shinichi Ozaki of Organization M (Masahiro Matsuoka) to investigate the
discovery with biologist Miyuki Otonashi (Rei Kikukawa.) Meanwhile, monsters
simultaneously start attacking cities around the world – New York, Paris, Shanghai,
and Sydney.

The Earth-Defense Force promptly mobilizes its team but they’re quickly outnumbered
by the monsters. Can Godzilla save mankind?
 

Monster Alert!

The director of Toho Picture’s Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, Massaaki Tezuka, made a rare
appearance recently at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, California.
Although he wasn’t directly involved with Toho’s Godzilla Final Wars, Tezuka revealed
that he was somewhat knowledgeable of the new production and speculated that there
could be at least fourteen classic kaiju monsters battling Godzilla.

The Japanese word kaiju is roughly translated as "mysterious beast" and Godzilla fans
have not seen such a large scale reunion of these classic Japanese kaiju since Destroy
all Monsters (1968), so expectations for the new film are running high.

Penny Blood has learned that the new film will include appearances by Mothra, Rodan,
King Ghidorah, Ebirah, Hedorah, King Shisa, Angilas, Gigan, Kumonga, Manda, Kamakiras,
and Minilla, better known as “Godzilla’s son.”

Director Ryuhei Kitamura also announced that the Hollywood CGI Godzilla, "Zilla", will
also make an appearance. The 1998 Hollywood Godzilla movie is often cited by fans as
“the worst Godzilla movie ever” and Kitamura stated that he renamed the creature “Zilla”
because Hollywood "had taken the 'God' out of Godzilla" for fans. The “man-in-suit Godzilla”
and the CGI Godzilla ("Zilla") are supposed to fight each other in the new movie.

In the new film, the CGI Zilla is supposed to be an "assassin monster" engineered by the
“aliens from Planet X” to kill the “real” Godzilla, and It appears the filmmakers are pulling
out all the stops.
 

Interesting Facts:

1. This will be the last of three films in the Godzilla trilogy known the "Millennium Series,” which also included
   Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS.
    

2. This will be the first time that a Toho Godzilla film had some actual location shooting in the United States of
   America, mostly shot in New York City. There were also scenes shot in Australia.
    

3. Music for the film’s soundtrack is being provided by Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer fame. The
   American groups Zebrahead and Sum 41 also present tracks.
    

Photos from the Godzilla Final Wars premiere

Photos: Naomi Anderson, Copyright 2004

(Click on photos to enlarge)

© 2004 Toho Pictures, Inc.  Godzilla®, its related
characters and the character designs are trademarks of
Toho Co., Ltd.  © 2004 Toho Co., Ltd.  All rights
reserved.