On the occasion of the recent release of Godzilla vs Kong, the fourth chapter of the MonsterVerse available for purchase and rental on all major digital platforms, let’s retrace the history of the famous Japanese kaiju who revolutionized monster-themed science fiction cinema.
Intended as a metaphor for the nuclear weapons that ravaged Japan at the end of World War II, Godzilla officially debuted in 1954, the year of release of the first film made by Toho under the direction of Ishirō Honda.
The success of the first appearance of the monster then led the Japanese studio to produce ben 32 films divided into four eras: the Shōwa Era (1954-1975), the Heisei Era (1984-1995), the Millennium Era (1999-2004) and the Reiwa Era, the latter inaugurated in 2006 and still ongoing today. The latest chapter, released in 2018 and part of the recent anime trilogy, is Godzilla: Planet Eater.
Meanwhile, the US has proposed its own version of Godzilla on two occasions. The first bears the signature of TriStar Pictures, which after several development problems entrusted the task to Roland Emmerich: the film that came out, Godzilla (1998), was harshly criticized by audiences and critics but managed to get almost 400 million at the box office. The latest American iteration of the kaiju coincides with that of the MonsterVerse, introduced in 2014 with the film by Gareth Edwards and then subsequently appeared in Godzilla: King of the Monsters and in Godzilla vs Kong.
For more insights, we leave you to the story of the origins of King Kong.
