Legendary Pictures' Godzilla

X-SOLDIER · Jul 15, 2012

Voiceover from the trailer said:
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people cried, most people were silent. I remember things — lines from the end of scripture. Vishnu takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.'"

AICN's feeling about the footage: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57030

AICN said:
They didn’t even announce what it was before running the footage… we just got the Legendary logo against a plume of black smoke… the camera floats over a devastated city… It’s not big Roland Emmerich devastation, more like Neill Blomkamp heavy reality devastation. Buildings are tumbled, fires have broken out, busses squashed and a skyscraper with a huge hole in the middle of it.

The camera keeps moving and then we see something not very real world at all… A huge creature… segmented shell, multiple arms ending in claw and dead, dead, dead. Flies buzz around it and from a long way away we hear Godzilla’s iconic roar.

Cut to the title, which is exactly the font of that teaser poster.

But then the big hero shot: huge hazy plume of smoke and dust as something moves inside… we see a clawed hand, camera tilts up as the big creature turns, his back scales causing shafts of godlight to filter through the haze (and these back scales are not spruced up… jagged, sharp… totally Godzilla) as the head turns in profile, letting out a roar.

Someone on Twitter (it might have been Erik Davis, but don’t quote me on that) mentioned that the tone of the footage was like post 9-11 news footage and that’s dead on. This is real, sad devastation combined with the awe of Godzilla.

I gotta say, this was the first footage of the con that birthed goosebumps for me. Great, great stuff. If they can match the tone of this footage for a whole movie then this could be incredible. Truly.

No cam footage of the trailer's surfaced, but there are these two images of silhouetted Godzilla (make sure to check the second one I linked, because it's WAY better, but it's also fucking huge).

- HUGE frontal cam shot of Godzilla from the footage.

I have no words other than that I am absolutely giddy with excitement.

X :neo:

Interslicery · Jul 15, 2012

So they're actually making it? This things been in talks for like 2-3 years now.

Look forward to seeing some footage, but not a fan of the director.

Theozilla · Jul 15, 2012

Has the filming been mostly completed? Or was the footage in the trailer likely trailer made specifically?

Vendel · Jul 15, 2012

Time to change the ole underwear.

Cthulhu · Jul 15, 2012

I wonder if this is going to be an OMG AWESOME EXPLOSIONS HERO MURCAN SOLDIERS EXPLOSIOOOOON or a melodramatic oh the humanity, women with babies running kind of tearjerker. Or a combination thereof.

I want the former. And a series of movies. Godzilla versus Cthulhu, etc.

SoulReaper · Jul 15, 2012

If there isn't a guy in suit playing Godzilla then I'll pass.

Tetsujin · Jul 15, 2012

Yes please.

Vendel · Jul 15, 2012

Theozilla said:
Has the filming been mostly completed? Or was the footage in the trailer likely trailer made specifically?

It hasn't started filming yet. This was a 'proof of concept' trailer to show what they can do. Plus it makes a great announcement. It's due for a 2014 release.

Gym Leader Devil · Jul 15, 2012

If they can do as well for the entire shoot as the description X posted sounds, then this should kick more ass than an ass kicking machine set to overload. I feel a need to celebrate just from hearing this (been on a Godzilla kick already so this is perfectly timed).

Edit: Replaced the spoilered link with a different version, since the one I was using doesn't appear to be working right even if I did fix the link. Thanks for pointing that out Ryu.

Ryushikaze · Jul 15, 2012

You also fucked up the link, somehow.

X-SOLDIER · Jul 15, 2012

Legendary got the rights to Godzilla a couple years back, and it was originally looking like they were gonna push to have something out in 2012, but there were a few delays (I believe loosely relayed to some legal goings on with Toho). In addition to that, pushing it to 2014 makes it convenient since it'll be Godzilla's 60th anniversary.

As far as the content, Gareth Edwards is REALLY big about portraying realistic effects of devastating supernatural-like events (It's what I really enjoyed about Monsters). From the quotes from him at SDCC, it looks like he wants to play the events as realistically as possible given the premise. If reports from 2011 are still accurate, David Goyer is the one writing the script. I'd expect some really harrowing / realistic takes on the scale of disaster and how it affects the people, as well as some pretty badass daikaiju fighting.

I'm most curious as to what Godzilla's going to be portrayed as: a Good, Evil, or Neutral entity.

X :neo:

Vendel · Jul 17, 2012

This should be "Godzilla: The Return of the King".

Gym Leader Devil · Jul 17, 2012

X-SOLDIER said:
I'm most curious as to what Godzilla's going to be portrayed as: a Good, Evil, or Neutral entity.

Neutral-but-inherently-destructive is the way to go imo. I always liked the big guy best when he was in that role. I always laughed at the JSDF and government folk in Godzilla movies describing G making landfall as an "attack" all the time. With the exception of the first two or three films (and GMK of course, the only one where he comes off as genuinely evil) where you can see him going out of his way to trample or even burn crowds of civilians, its usually less of an "attack" and more "he's taking a walk." He just doesn't notice or care that tens of thousands of humans die when he does it :reptar:

X-SOLDIER · Jul 17, 2012

I like the idea of treating Godzilla as a natural disaster with a purpose - like when he's attacking other kaiju who happen to occasionally cross civilization, but also fight in large, open areas. Related, these articles are pretty interesting (written just after Cloverfield) and get into the difficulties of military aggression against giant monsters.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/02/monster-mash-ko/
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/how-to-stop-a-5/

X :neo:

Ghost X · Jul 17, 2012

I take it Matthew Broderick has nothing to do with this one?

Vendel · Jul 17, 2012

Ghost X said:
I take it Matthew Broderick has nothing to do with this one?

X-SOLDIER · Jul 17, 2012

@Ghostx: That film contains the Toho monster Zilla, not Godzilla. (Godzilla actually fights Zilla in Final Wars).

But no, it's entirely unrelated to this movie.

X :neo:

Tetsujin · Jul 17, 2012

X-SOLDIER said:
@Ghostx: That film contains the Toho monster Zilla, not Godzilla. (Godzilla actually fights Zilla in Final Wars).

You mean curbstomps him.

Gym Leader Devil · Jul 17, 2012

As in Zilla goes down in right around 15 seconds. I gotta say I actually enjoyed the American Godzilla a fair bit, it was a decent kaiju movie (aside from a few glaringly stupid moments here and there). It just wasn't a Godzilla film by any means at all.

X-SOLDIER · Jul 18, 2012

In regards to the '98 (God)zilla film: It is an enjoyable Kaiju film, and I've actually grown to like it a lot more when NOT thinking of it as Godzilla. Zilla being adopted into the larger Toho universe to make that official also helped me let go of a lot of the negativity I had for it once upon a time.

While there isn't REALLY any new news aside from the footage at SDCC, I've seen a few other recaps that briefly mention a comment from Gareth Edwards at the panel, but this one has the most details about it of any that I've found, and it makes me grin.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/...eviews-godzilla-and-pacific-rim-at-comic-con/

The teaser trailer gave fans their first glimpse of Legendary’s take on the
King of the Monsters. © 2012 Legendary Pictures, Toho Co., Ltd.Godzilla’s mighty roar was quickly drowned out by sustained, wildly enthusiastic cheering and applause from the audience. It was perhaps the biggest reaction during the entire Legendry/Warners panel. As director Gareth Edwards (MONSTERS) was brought out, much of the audience got to its feet to applaud again. Having labored on the project for years with multiple screenwriters, the young director seemed tremendously gratified to finally be able to show fans a preview, however brief, of his vision of the King of the Monsters. He later admitted to being close to tears when he heard the audience screaming with excitement.

“I’ve wanted to see this movie, this way, all my life, really” commented Edwards. “The idea is to imagine if this really happened, as crazy as it sounds, what would it really be like? There’s nothing sci-fi about this movie, it’s very grounded, realistic.” He expressed gratitude for the support given him by Legendary to pursue his vision of the film. “These guys have been fantastic. Everyone warns you when you do a movie for Hollywood it’s going to be a certain thing and you’re going to get treated a certain way, and it’s been the polar opposite. [Legendary founder] Thomas [Tull] has been backing us all the way.”

The teaser was shown a second time to another round of applause. Later in the afternoon, Edwards appeared at the Legendary booth with screenwriter Max Borenstein to autograph postcard-sized promotional cards. There was no artwork, just the title GODZILLA in red against a stark black background. The booth also featured a display of two Jaeger pilot suits from PACIFIC RIM.

I'm hoping that we get to see a teaser/trailer for one or both of these films in front of TDKR.

X :neo:

Alex · Jul 18, 2012

Even though I'm on the fence about Monsters, I can't help but like Gareth Edwards. It's great to see young directors who love the movies they're making and so enthusiastic about wanting to do right by the fans.

That said, if Godzilla starts making whale noises I am ollying outie.

Mantichorus · Jul 21, 2012

X-SOLDIER said:
In regards to the '98 (God)zilla film: It is an enjoyable Kaiju film, and I've actually grown to like it a lot more when NOT thinking of it as Godzilla

Ditto. The animated series that spun off from it was good, too.

Crossing everything for this filim to turn out good.

Gym Leader Devil · Jul 21, 2012

Looking at the larger version of that image X linked has me wondering what design they're going with for the big guy this time around. Obviously can't get too clear a picture of it from this, especially about overall posture and such, but I have high hopes.

All that plus the shape of the back spikes/plates (which look more regular than Millennium designs but more jagged than previous), gives me an impression of mixing different Godzilla designs, sort of like they did for

but to different effect. Less humanized around the face, thicker jaws for crushing and smashing, thicker body.

I have so much hope here it isn't even funny guys.

X-SOLDIER · Jul 21, 2012

Seriously, the silhouette looks like it might have the features I love from all of the eras. I really hope we get to see the trailer sometime.

X :neo:

Cookie Monster · Jul 25, 2012

Concept Art:

Legendary Pictures' Godzilla

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