Throughout Godzilla’s cinematic history, the massive kaiju has existed in two separate worlds. There is the original Japanese version, whose films are produced by Godzilla creator Toho Studios, and then there are the American incarnations, which have been produced by various Hollywood studios under license from Toho. But that status quo is changing.
Toho made their first appearance at Comic-Con last weekend to celebrate their biggest creation’s 65th birthday, and while there, they discussed their plans for the big guy’s future in America. As it turns out, after Legendary and Warner Bros.’ MonsterVerse wraps up next year with Godzilla vs Kong, Toho is going to be looking at being more directly involved with bringing Godzilla to American audiences than before. “In the past, Toho licensed Godzilla to Hollywood,” Toho’s head of project management Akito Takahashi told Inverse. “From this year, we actually invested as well, and we’ve been working on the creative side, which has been very exciting as well.”
Takahashi also hinted about what monster we should expect to see in the post-MonsterVerse landscape, and it’s definitely one that will excite longtime fans of Toho’s films. “I do believe that Mechagodzilla has a huge impact and fanbase, and that was probably something that might be coming in the future,” he revealed. Takahashi then added what he himself would most like to see, and it sounds like he may be hinting at a possible Pacific Rim crossover. “Personally, I love the Jaeger, so I personally hope we can see him in the movies. It’s a minority character, not many people know him,” he said.
It sounds like Godzilla fans in the good ol’ US of A have lots to look forward to, including Mechagodzilla on the big screen, a possible Pacific Rim crossover, and more creative involvement from the studio that created Godzilla and the whole Kaiju genre. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, now is a great time to be a Godzilla fan.
