Further to Sneak Peek's report March 2010, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures will debut their new 3D "Godzilla" feature, May 16, 2014.
"...Legendary, which has been developing the project, and its partner Warner Bros. will return the character to its epic roots with a gritty, realistic actioner..."
The film will be directed by Gareth Edwards ("Monsters"), from a screenplay by David Callaham ("The Expendables"). David S. Goyer, Max Borenstein, Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni will produce, along with Roy Lee, Dan Lin and Brian Rogers. Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher will serve as executive producers alongside Doug Davison, Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.
Toho has kept Godzilla alive through two generations of feature films, many of which were only released in Japan. The last time Godzilla arrived in North America, it was for a 50th Anniversary re-release of the original 1954 film, directed by Ishirō Honda featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura.
The plot tells the story of 'Godzilla', a giant dinosaur-like monster mutated by nuclear radiation who ravages Japan, bringing back the horrors of nuclear devastation to a country that experienced it first hand.
Previous to that, Toho released one of the Japanese films in the United States as "Godzilla 2000" and in 1998, director Roland Emmerich, with partner Dean Devlin tackled a reinvention of "Godzilla" for Sony, grossing $379 million worldwide.
"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, Chairman, CEO of Legendary.
"Our plans are to produce the 'Godzilla' that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has."
"Godzilla is a signature Japanese character which we have nurtured over the years," said Hideyuki Takai, President, Toho Co., Ltd.
"It is a great honor to reach an agreement with Legendary Pictures, the parent to many a blockbuster film, and we are delighted in rebooting the character together to realize its much anticipated return by fans from all over the world.
"We are anxious to find out where Godzilla's new stomping will take us."
"We are anxious to find out where Godzilla's new stomping will take us."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Godzilla"...
