Source.KJB wrote:It looks like Godzilla may be getting ready to take a long break. The iconic movie monster may be making his last appearance later this year.
"We have done all we can to showcase Godzilla, including using computer-graphics technology. And yet we haven't attracted new fans," said Shogo Tomiyama, Executive Producer for Toho Productions in an interview with The Associated Press. "So we will make the 50th anniversary film something special, a best-of-the-best, and then end it for now."
By Hollywood standards, the films are a bargain. Even though the films have been reaching an increasingly narrow audience of children and die-hard fans, none of the films have cost over $9 million (although the budget for Final Wars is said to top that amount) and have managed to gross far more than that around the world in general release and on home video. The Japanese films have managed to resist the trend of replacing physical effects with computer-generated graphics, instead relying an ever-increasingly complicated suit to bring the monster to life. Hollywood's own attempt to bring the creature to film, 1998's Godzilla, was nothing short of a cinematic disaster that had none of the charm of the Toho films, one of the major factors cited by audiences and critics alike in their general disgust for the film.
This isn't the first time Godzilla has pondered taking a long vacation. When box office numbers began to slump in the late '60s, Toho planned to send the Big G out on a high note in 1968's Destroy All Monsters, a film that would see Godzilla battle almost every giant monster that ever made an appearance. When fans flocked to see the giant monster battle royale, Toho decided to keep the franchise alive. It's no accident that the film being touted as Godzilla's last for at least a decade is following the same formula. Godzilla: Final Wars is shrouded in secrecy but is rumored to feature the giant monster battle to end all giant monster battles. Set for release in December in Japan with a U.S. release to follow, could the fans keep the franchise alive again?
Damn it. That kind of sucks. Hopefully Final Wars is really good though.
