For many years, I’d been waiting patiently for an opportunity to begin watching the Godzilla films, arguably one of the most important franchises in Japanese popular culture. Recently, I began watching the Godzilla movies after I picked up Criterion’s release of the Showa era Godzilla films and have since become determined to explore the world of tokusatsu in greater depth. However, with an official 36 Godzilla films, many people are understandably confused or intimidated by the series and, so, I decided that it would be worth providing an overview of the Godzilla franchise and the eras and timelines.
Arguably the most important film in the franchise is the one that started it all, the original 1954 film that introduced the world to Godzilla (known in Japanese as Gojira). The film opens up with several Japanese fishing vessels being destroyed mysteriously and the discovery of a giant radioactive creature that threatens Japan. The film was the originator of “Suitmation”, a technique developed by the late Eiji Tsuburaya which had the monster portrayed by a person in a latex suit. This technique would go on to become a staple of not only the kaiju industry but the tokusatsu industry as a whole. However, another important aspect of the original Godzilla film is that it would become the springboard from which nearly every Godzilla timeline would begin.
This film along with the 14 sequels that were released up until 1975 make up what is referred to as the “Showa Era” of Godzilla. This comes from the name for the era of Japanese history from 1926 to 1989 under Hirohito who is now known posthumously as Emperor Showa. These films feature some of the most popular and least popular films within the Godzilla franchise and saw a transition of Godzilla from a destructive force of nature to a defender of Earth as well as introducing many kaiju that would be important in future films.
In 1984, nine years after the 1975 film “Terror of Mechagodzilla”, a new film “The Return of Godzilla” was released. This film got rid of almost all of the previous continuity, only serving as a sequel to the original 1954 film. Despite technically being released in the Showa era, The Return of Godzilla is considered to be part of the Heisei era Godzilla series as the next six Godzilla films, which were released in the Heisei era, served as sequels to The Return of Godzilla. These films returned Godzilla to the role of a force of destruction and featured more focus on the science and research of Godzilla as well.
In 1999, four years after the release of “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah”, “Godzilla 2000: Millennium” was released and started the Millennium era of the Godzilla franchise. These films are unusual within the Godzilla canon as each serves as a sequel only to the original 1954 film with the one exception being the 2003 film “Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.” which serves as a sequel to “Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla” which was released the prior year. Because of this, the Millennium era Godzilla films are often compared to anthology series in that each film is pretty much standalone.
Since the release of “Godzilla: Final Wars” in 2004, only a few more Japanese Godzilla films have been released. Shin Godzilla, co-directed by legendary director Hideaki Anno, was released in 2016 to widespread critical acclaim and box office success. We have also seen the release of an anime trilogy that was distributed internationally by Netflix and released in 2017 and 2018. These films are now considered to be part of the Reiwa era of the Godzilla franchise despite the Reiwa era only beginning in 2019.
Of course, no overview of the Godzilla franchise would be complete without mentioning the four American films that have been produced as well. In 1998, we saw Roland Emmerich release an American version of Godzilla which was titled “Godzilla”. This film was widely panned due to poor characterisations, story, special effects and the design of the film’s Godzilla and the planned sequels were cancelled. It wasn’t until 2014 when we saw Hollywood take another shot at making a Godzilla film. The 2014 “Godzilla” proved quite popular at the box office and started the “MonsterVerse”, a shared cinematic universe between Godzilla and King Kong. Of the four MonsterVerse films, three have starred Godzilla, those being the 2014 Godzilla film that I mentioned, the 2019 “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and the 2021 “Godzilla Vs. Kong”.
The Godzilla franchise can be quite complicated and intimidating but I hope that this article has made the series look more palatable and helps some people begin to explore the franchise. Let me know your thoughts on the overview of the Godzilla franchise, what films you have seen, which period is your favourite, your thoughts on the American films and any additional information you might have on the topic.
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