I did not see this one coming.
When Toho partnered with Legendary Pictures to make “Godzilla,” I assumed that meant this was their official take on the franchise, dormant since “Godzilla: Final Wars,” and it seemed like the film succeeded enough to make Toho happy. They're moving forward with a sequel, after all, which promises to introduce more of Toho's iconic monsters into the same film universe.
So I was surprised to read over the weekend that Toho is moving forward with their own take on things. Here's what The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla had to say:
“With the success of the Hollywood version of Godzilla, we decided on a new [domestic] production… the screenplay is currently in development and we plan to start shooting next summer. We cannot announce cast or staff selections at this time. And we're still deliberating whether to bring Godzilla to life via CGI or man-in-suit.”
Oh, my, I do believe I have the vapors. The promise of Toho doing their own thing is exciting because they approach these films in such a particular way. According to the report, this is aiming for a 2016 release date. Edwards should be hard at work on his “Star Wars” film until then, so Toho has a good chance of having their film out before there's a sequel to the American movie.
I know that the American films will be the ones with the bigger budgets and the more polished technical finish, but the Toho films will end up with a purity of intent that can only be managed by the people who actually created the iconic character. Tell me… as Godzilla fans, are you excited to get two different takes to look forward to, or is this overkill?