24 More Days To Go For "Godzilla" In Japan

Above, Godzilla at the 2001 Tokyo International Film Festival. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In 24 more days, Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. Godzilla will be released theatrically in Japan.

Will it be a hit in Godzilla's home country or will it be a colossal flop? Or, will it do something somewhere in the middle?

I think Godzilla will do quite well in Japan. The Japanese fans, while not as vocal as fans outside of Japan, are probably "starved" for a new Godzilla movie since Toho stopped making them ten years ago. I trust that many, if not most, of them have been following the worldwide box office numbers and the movie reviews (professional and otherwise). They already know going in that it will be nothing like the fiasco of 1998.

In any case, we'll see how it does 24 days from now.

**************

Speaking of Godzilla and openings. I was doing some photo scanning last night and scanned a couple from the November 2001 premiere of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃, Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaijū Sōkōgeki) at Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo's Bunkamura. The event was part of the 2001 Tokyo International Film Festival.

The photo at top of this blog post was also from this event, but an older scan. The two photos below are new scans.

Here, we see Godzilla on stage (before the screening of the movie begins) with Toho Executive Producer Shogo Tomiyama, Director Shusuke Kaneko and some of the actors from the movie. Luckily, I had a press pass and was able to go down to the stage to get these shots.

Above, Godzilla posing with the executive producer, actors and director. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Godzilla fires off his "radioactive breath" at the audience. Photo by Armand Vaquer.