Godzilla is one of the most iconic monsters in movie history with 33 Japanese films and four American films. Since his debut in 1954, he has been a top box office draw in Japan and worldwide. The King Of The Monsters has endured decades of change in the world, from his serious beginnings in Gojira to the absolutely wacky fun films of the 60s and 70s that represent the Shōwa era (named after the Japanese Emperor). He would not return until 1984 in the aptly titled The Return of Godzilla beginning the Heisei era.
Godzilla’s look would evolve with every film, every era into the Millennium era. In the Reiwa era, Godzilla would undergo his most radical transformation from practical effects to top-notch CGI, and the playfulness of many of the films was gone with a pair of two excellent films, 2016’s Shin Godzilla and 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which won Godzilla his first nomination and win at the Academy Awards for Visual Effects. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One was also the most commercially successful film in the franchise and it was just announced he will direct the next one as well.
This is a great way for Godzilla to celebrate his birthday.
The Academy Museum is celebrating Godzilla with its first-ever movie marathon, the Godzilla-Thon! On Sunday, November 3rd, there will be a Godzilla Meet and Greet, a Godzilla workshop, and the 5 film marathon. Starting at 11 AM: Gojira (1954) in 35mm, 1 PM: Destroy All Monsters, 2:45 PM: Godzilla vs The Smog Monster, 5:15 PM: Shin Godzilla in 4K (North American Restoration Premiere), and 7:30 PM: Godzilla Minus One.
To discuss the Godzilla-Thon! Academy Museum Film Programs Specialist Robert Reneau recently spoke to Immersive via Zoom.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length]
Do you remember when you first saw your first Godzilla movie?
I saw Son of Godzilla at a local creature feature show in the San Francisco Bay area, and I was young enough to not realize there were men in suits. I thought it was just extremely elaborate stop-motion animation, because I’d already been a Ray Harryhausen fan. After that, I saw the first Godzilla (1954), the original one… It was just so stark and grim and somber and so clearly informed by Japan’s post-World War II post-nuclear trauma that it was, it was just weird to imagine. Amazing that this is the same series of films.
I love each era equally. I’ll ask you, do you have a favorite Godzilla movie?
I think it might be Shin Godzilla. I’ve only seen that one once. But they got a very brief LA run. It played on a Saturday morning and I caught it there and it just seemed to so truly reinvent the series with this great modern sort of satirical sensibility. It was more satirical about modern society and also had this imagery that was so evocative of all the recent disasters in Japan, sort of very much placing this sort of crazy over-the-top fantasy goes on the ocean in what felt like a very real world, but still with a level of humor about it.
Who came up with the idea of doing a whole day of Godzilla films?
Well, my understanding was the idea very first that came from Amy Homma, our museum director. Amy noted that November 3rd would be the 70th anniversary of when the first Gojira opened in Japan. So the idea of doing something that day to honor Godzilla, particularly given that Godzilla had such a resurgence, I mean the success of Godzilla Minus One, the historical factor that it was not only the first Godzilla film to receive any animations but the first non-English language film to receive a visual effects nomination, which is pretty extraordinary given all the work that’s being done in American movies, visual effects.
We screened Godzilla Minus One after the awards this year, and it had not only just a good turnout as far as numbers, but such an enthusiastic audience. They were just so thrilled to be experiencing that film at the museum. I think that was one of the reasons we decided to make 70th anniversary Godzilla Day and that blossomed into — we realized we just had the full day. We could use a full marathon, which we’ve never done before. This will be five related films all in one day, which in three years we’ve never done anything like that. So it’s a breakthrough for us.
What were the factors that went into selecting the films? How did you land on the chosen titles?
I’m probably one of our group who knows the movies best, even though there are a lot of them I’ve never seen. I’m only now finally catching a bunch of the nineties ones. I think I just watched Godzilla vs Space Godzilla and Godzilla vs Destroyah (both classics). I’m currently watching Godzilla Final Wars. I felt we needed to show the original one. We needed to show Godzilla Minus One. I wanted to show Shin Godzilla ’cause it’s such a good one.
As far as the others, I was sort of basing it on ones I was familiar with, because it’s essentially seven decades of movies to choose from when we only have five slots. I felt that Destroy All Monsters was a really good summing up of the sixties ones. The tone got lighter than the original. It’s also got so many monsters in it.
Godzilla vs the Smog Monster is such a distinctive and memorable one. It has such a seventies feeling of it between the music and the focus on pollution. It has a different sensibility than the sixties ones. I thought that was a strong one and just a memorable film in its own right.
Destroy All Monsters is probably my favorite one. It’s the one that I enjoy the most. What else would you want our readers to know about Godzilla Day?
I know the education department is doing a stop motion workshop where they’re using Godzilla toys to demonstrate stop motion to people and how people can make their own stop motion videos. I know we are planning to have someone in a Kaiju suit on-site at the museum to sort of be a good sort of moving 3D living example. We also have a poster case in our lower-level lobby. We display posters for our current screens. We have posters for four of the films…
Cool. So people can come down, have fun, enjoy all the Godzilla movies, and also learn stuff while we’re there.
I’m going to be doing introductions to each of the movies, shortish ones where I add information between each of the films, talking about how the series progressed, what happened in between, and about the filmmakers.
Godzilla-Thon is happening this weekend at the Academy Museum.
