The upcoming Japanese-made film, which now has a release date and teaser video, will feature the largest Godzilla in franchise history.
Almost exactly a year ago, Japanese film studio Toho announced that it would be making its first Godzilla movie in 12 years. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, the film’s director will be none other than Hideaki Anno, the creator of hugely influential anime Neon Genesis Evangelion who’s been a kaiju fan since his formative childhood years.
But now there comes an even bigger piece of news: the size of the reptilian leading man himself. For the newest installment in the series, Shin Godzilla, Godzilla will stand 118.5 meters (389 feet) tall! Not only is that 10.5 meters taller than the version seen in Legendary Pictures’ American-produced 2014 Godzilla, it means that Shin Godzilla’s star will be larger than any other Godzilla in the franchise’s six-decade history.
With the film roughly half a year from release, the producers have revealed the first image of how the creature will appear in Shin Godzilla.
There’s a definite sinister quality to this Godzilla. Whereas many previous films’ versions have looked like a dinosaur, or even an anthropomorphized dinosaur, Shin Godzilla’s looks like a straight-up monster, with its unnervingly beady eyes and maw of giant, jagged teeth.
Japanese Twitter user @arakichi1969 lightened the picture to give an even better idea of the new design.
▼ Hey, look! Godzilla has a neck again!
The lack of humanizing qualities fits with the text on the promotional image, which translates as “Japan vs. Godzilla,” suggesting that Shin Godzilla will bring the setting back to Japan, and that Godzilla will be playing the role of the antagonist, not fighting to protect Japan from other, more destructive kaiju. As further proof, here’s a teaser video for the movie showing how Tokyo reacts when the big guy comes to visit.
Shin Godzilla is scheduled for release on July 29.
Sources: Eiga.com, Cinema Today via Hachima Kiko, Anime News Network
Top image: Cinema Today (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Cinema Today, Twitter/@arakichi1969