Toho Kingdom

There has been many debates over this before but do you consider Godzilla a "dead" franchise? If so why? If not why not?

I do NOT believe Godzilla is anywhere close to being a dead franchise nor will it ever be.

The best way to describe it right now would probably be dormant. The franchise would probably be still running if GINO had screwed up like it did. The plan was to do an American Godzilla trilogy and then in 2004 Toho would take over. Well those plans fell through and Toho was left scrambling to redeem Godzilla's name but producing several so-so movies just kinda wore things down so Toho just put everything on hold after 2004.

Godzilla, like every big franchise, just needed a break. It's survived 50 plus years and has the longest running film franchise. It cant die. All it takes is one good movie to bring the franchise back to where it used to be.

Think about it-
1.) IDW comics sell very well even with Mixed reaction
2.) the new MonsterArts Godzilla toys have been high sellers.
3.) Bandai USA still seems to sell well in stores
4.) G-fest was at record attendance this year even with very little info on the new Godzilla movie and a crappy economy and no major toy line besides MonsterArts.
5.) The hype for the new Godzilla movie has been huge even with the little info we had before Comic Con.

Godzilla needed a break in order to help revive interest in the series and bring in new fans. It's worked which is why people are so hyped about the new upcoming American Godzilla. I think Godzilla will come back stronger than ever. It will never die.

Absolutly not. Gamera on the other hand is truly dead, which saddens me as a Gamera fan. Other than two Sci Fi revoltech figures, Gamera has nothing. Godzilla is still spewing comics, books, toys, etc. Godzilla is very much alive. He has been for 50+ years, and will be around for a long time.

Gyaos wrote:Absolutly not. Gamera on the other hand is truly dead, which saddens me as a Gamera fan. Other than two Sci Fi revoltech figures, Gamera has nothing.

Seven Revoltech figures, and some other companies have been releasing stuff from time to time (X-Plus just did a fantastic G2 figure). But yeah, Gamera ain't a household name like Godzilla is, hence why the franchise is pretty close to dead.

gatorzilla wrote:I think Godzilla will come back stronger than ever. It will never die.

Nothin last forever, bud. I know your relentless enthusiasm for this franchise's expansion tells you otherwise, but Godzilla will be gone someday for one reason or another.

It isn't dead, not yet.

It's just been in a in a Coma the last 8 years but it's about to come out again. Granted that's from my own perspective but the American Reboot will pretty much establish if Godzilla's a dead franchise or not.

We'll have to wait to see if it's Japan gross since 2004's ''Final Wars'' has gone up an what the rest of the films total gross is gonna be, it'll show if anybody is really still interested in Godzilla.

Before the announcement of the new film, it was probably on life support.

Gyaos wrote:Absolutly not. Gamera on the other hand is truly dead, which saddens me as a Gamera fan. Other than two Sci Fi revoltech figures, Gamera has nothing. Godzilla is still spewing comics, books, toys, etc. Godzilla is very much alive. He has been for 50+ years, and will be around for a long time.

I wouldn't count Gamera out so quickly.

When Godzilla is resurrected in Japan (it is just a matter of time) Gamera will re-emerge as well. Besides, it has only been 6 years since the last Gamera film. It has been 7 years since the last Tool album and I sure as hell dont consider them to be dead.

This forum being so active is another indication that the franchise is not dead.

tymon wrote:

gatorzilla wrote:I think Godzilla will come back stronger than ever. It will never die.

Nothin last forever, bud. I know your relentless enthusiasm for this franchise's expansion tells you otherwise, but Godzilla will be gone someday for one reason or another.

Well, if ya count the movies surviving, you could say Godzilla is immortal.

it can't die, and it won't. Bandai in the US is starting to release a new set of Toys at this moment and a Movie is being made. With Godzilla being such a big pop culture icon, the franchise won't die, but if it does, it will leave a legend.

Since the reboot film is confirmed for 2014, it can't be dead. Also, classic franchises never actually die. It's been a while since the last Dracula movie, for example, but the character certainly isn't dead.

If anything its slowly coming back thanks to all the renewed interest.

Godzilla Toho films are in hibernation

Everything else with Godzilla is alive and stronger now than it's been in awhile, we have an American movie on the way, comics and toys.

As for Gamera I'm still hoping one day they just sell his rights to Toho, may DaiMajin's to.

Living Corpse wrote:If Pacific Rim and the LP Godzilla movie ends up doing well and is a hit they might see a market for giant monsters again and try to make a Gamera movie for the U.S.

So much this.

The franchise isn't dead since we were getting games, Comics, and all kinds of merchandise over the years.
At much it went in Hibernation but that's it.

So heres a question. If the LP movie does good, will it revive interest in Godzilla in Japan?

Gyaos wrote:So heres a question. If the LP movie does good, will it revive interest in Godzilla in Japan?

I'm going to very confidently say YES! it will resurrect Gojira and possibly Gamera as well.

Living Corpse wrote:

Gyaos wrote:So heres a question. If the LP movie does good, will it revive interest in Godzilla in Japan?

I honestly think that's a better question then asking if America will have revived interest in Godzilla. As far as the general American poplace knows Godzilla's last film was in the 80's or 70's so seeing him again will be a fresh start for them. As for Japan, well from what I understand they were sick of him already when they brought him back for the 2000's. They basically brought him out of retirement too early with lackluster films.

Assuming you mean the public's memory of a "real" Godzilla movie, why not Godzilla 2000? That opened up in way more theaters than Godzilla 1985 did so it was probably at least as well know, if not more so (and I'd lean towards the latter).

Anyway, the Millennium series probably can be blamed on quality to some degree. Although they aren't really "worse" IMO than the Heisei movies, I am not certain what the issues for the Japanese audiences were. BFE through Destoroyah made $18-20M each, whereas the only movie in the Millennium era to make that in Japan alone was GMK ($20M).

It also wasn't a wide-release. It was in limited theaters. Many general moviegoers weren't going to go to different theaters (or even knew they had to) to go see Godzilla 2000. I went on opening day to a smaller theater that had it, and there was like 8 people in the theater.

Living Corpse wrote:If Pacific Rim and the LP Godzilla movie ends up doing well and is a hit they might see a market for giant monsters again and try to make a Gamera movie for the U.S.

I hope Pacific Rim does real well too. Of course I hope the LP Godzilla does well too. I really liked Cloverfield and it did pretty well and I was hoping that that movie would span a bunch of giant monster movies. It really hasn't. Plus with Pacific Rim and Godzilla coming out I wonder if that would be a good time for a Cloverfield sequel or if that would be too much competition for old Clovie?

GodzillaSpawn wrote:It also wasn't a wide-release. It was in limited theaters. Many general moviegoers weren't going to go to different theaters (or even knew they had to) to go see Godzilla 2000. I went on opening day to a smaller theater that had it, and there was like 8 people in the theater.

Though G85 was even more limited, opening in less than an eighth of the theaters G2K did. Even so, G85 might have been advertised more (hard to say at this point).

Godzilla franchise is dead, but Anguirus's franchise has a bright future!