Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros have officially announced that they are starting to develop an all new movie based on the iconic movie monster "Godzilla," which first terrorized Tokyo (and then the world) for the first time over 50 years ago in 1954.Though no writer is mentioned yet, WB and Legendary hope to announce a director to helm the new "Godzilla" imminently with a look to release the film sometime in 2012.
There have been 28 movies featuring the mutant dinosaur, with the last major "Godzilla" outing, an American, New York-set version from Roland Emmerich ("2012") and Dean Devlin, grossing $376 million worldwide in 1998 although it got blasted as being low quality.
Legendary secured the rights to the giant lizard/dinosaur from the Japanese based Toho Corp – who have guided the franchise for the past five decades. Toho Studios has high hopes for Godzilla's return and will oversee the film’s release in Japan.
CEO of Legendary Pictures, Thomas Tull, praised Toho Corp for their dedication to Godzilla as well as offered his excitement at having the chance to produce the next "Godzilla" installment.
“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.”
Hideyuki Takai, President of Toho Co., Ltd says:
"Godzilla is a signature Japanese character which we have nurtured over the years. It is a great honor to reach an agreement with Legendary Pictures, the parent to many a blockbuster film, and we are delighted in rebooting the character together to realize its much anticipated return by fans from all over the world. We are anxious to find out where Godzilla's new stomping will take us."
This isn't the first time news of Legendary's attachment to the project has been announced as this is more a confirmation of Bloody Disgusting's report from back in August 2009 when they had just as much information as Variety now has, which is still very little.
It will be interesting to see how a "Godzilla" film will be received considering the recent success of "Cloverfield," which was described by producer JJ Abrams as a monster movie from America. And will this film have the radioactive beast come at us in 3D? According to the recent trend in Hollywood it will most likely be so.
There’s certainly room for optimism that we may finally get a solid "Godzilla" update for contemporary audiences. Though, without question, the balance between paying homage to the source material and providing a believable and engaging experience in a modern setting will be an extremely delicate process.
What do you hope to see in the upcoming modern day "Godzilla" project?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Screen Rant, First Showing, Live for Films, Rope of Silicon
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment