Godzilla's next stop: USA

Bloody Disgusting scooped it and now the news is confirmed. Godzilla is to return to the big screen. It is over a decade since its last incarnation, so you might say that ‘Zilla’s return is a little later than expected. We reboot the big film franchises every ten years nowadays, right? And who’s bigger than Godzilla? No-one. No-one! Don’t crush me with your massive dino-foot. Aaargh!

Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures have just sealed a deal with Japanese rights owners Toho. According to THR’s Heatvision blog, the CEO of Legendary, Thomas Tull, had this to say:

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise. Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop culturally relevant for as long as it has."

PR fluff aside, they are certainly right about Godzilla’s longevity. The Japanese monster has been the subject of over 28 movies since the 1954 Gojira and has become an icon to rival King Kong or Frankenstein's monster. But how did the big guy get such a firm foothold in pop culture in so short a time? Well, much like in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster represents the devastating power (and unnatural horror) of a scientific leap whose effects outstrip our understanding.

Gojira was made only nine years after the American nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the terror of living in the nuclear age is the key theme throughout. One of the film’s inspirations was undoubtedly the 1953 Warner Bros monster movie The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (so, in one sense the new film will be a homecoming of Godzilla of sorts, to WB). Directed by Eugène Lourié and with creature effects by legendary FX maestro Ray Harryhausen, the film’s plot saw atomic testing at the North pole revive a dinosaur called the Rhedosaurus which makes its way to New York. As you might imagine, carnage ensues. (You can see the trailer on IMDB here and you really should. There’s some unmissable dire-ologue: “Do you know what a radioactive isotope is?” “No but if it can be loaded, I can fire it.”)

Gojira used a similar storyline but its setting in Japan, which had seen the devastation of a nuclear bomb firsthand, added a resonance and authenticity to its depiction of the citywide terror. Godzilla is created by a nuclear explosion, and his rampage through the city echoed the devastation of a bomb. In a later scene, hospitals are overflowing with the wounded, many of whom have radiation poisoning. Finally, scientist Serizawa is forced to use a doomsday weapon of his own devising to destroy the creature but kills himself as well, so that the grim potential of his weapon will die with him.

By the time a bowdlerized version of Gojira had been released in the US (1956’s Godzilla, King of the Monsters! to which scenes featuring Raymond Burr as newsapaper reporter Steve Martin were added) many of the atomic references had been removed and the dark tone of the film tinkered with, to no positive effect. Over the years, Godzilla has become a more sympathetic figure, identified less with the nuclear threat and more as a displaced and confused product of it, and in some later instances as a defender of the city (for example, in 1999’s Gojira ni-sen mireniamu, Gojira saves Tokyo from a flying saucer that transforms into a giant beast). This has been reflected in the creature design: over the course of time, his face has becomes less reptilian and more equine and intelligent.

In 1998 Godzilla got the Roland Emmerich makeover treatment, which meant a scare-free, family-friendly (but intellect-hostile) ensemble cast piece. The film, which was expected to bank a cool $90,000,000 in its opening weekend (it was forecasted to play better than Jurassic Park) grossed a respectable but disappointing $44,000,000 and was kicked in the pants by every critic who saw it. In many ways, this Godzilla was the giant bastard lovechild of the later, manga-influenced, schlocky Godzilla flicks, like Godzilla vs Megalon (1973) which was made with kids in mind.

Perhaps the closest thing to a quality Godzilla flick that the US has produced recently was JJ Abrams’ 2008 Cloverfield – in spite of the fact that the monster was not overtly linked to Gojira, though Japanese refences abounded. While people were understandably distracted by the gimmicky marketing (terrible Slusho! campaign, we’re looking at you) and handheld camera silliness, which Roger Ebert dubbed “queasy-cam”, the film showed an understanding of monster movies that Emmerich’s film sorely lacked. It is not too outrageous to suggest that, as the intervening years (between Emmerich's Godzilla and Cloverfield) had seen the first large-scale attack on New York, images from that event had made their way into the public consciousness and could not be un-seen, as it were. The resulting filmic spectacle bore similarities to the handheld footage captured by witnesses of the Twin Towers attack.

There’s no director attached to the upcoming remake, so it’s impossible to guess at its tone or angle. It’s slated to hit our screens in 2012. Here's Bloody Disgusting's scoop. More news when we get it. In the meantime, keep watching the skies.