Toho's Godzilla 4K Restoration Project

[Maritonic]

Wow, judging based on iPhone photos of a TV screen, that looks absolutely fantastic. I really hope we someday get to see some sort of 4K releases over here in the US (even though it's highly unlikely).

[Joseph Goodman]

It should be pointed out that those are shots from a recording of the "Godzilla 4k Project" special, not a full restoration of the whole film. I haven't seen anything about the whole film being restored in 4k on any of the Japanese sites that covered the previous 4k Godzilla news. This film has some of the same problems that KKvsG had, in that the camera negative was cut down to make the Champion Festival edit... all video releases of the uncut version have been mastered from a dupe negative. Hopefully the missing trims can be found if Toho decides to restore the whole film in 4k.

https://twitter.com/pasinpasin/status/9 ... 7209075713

[GodzillaBurgh]

TAKE MY BANK ACCOUNT, TOHO!!!! I NEED IT!!!

[Great Hierophant]

https://www.facebook.com/august.ragone/ ... 5446818185

Mothra vs. Godzilla just got the 4k treatment!

From August Ragone:

The "Nippon Eiga Senmon Channel" on Japanese satellite cable just ran the classic 1964 kaiju spectacle and viewers are commenting on how fantastic it looks (considering Toho Video's previous Blu-ray release), prompting master artist Yuji Kaida to exclaim that these shots "look like color stills!"

Pictures taken from an iPhone of a TV screen are included in the full post, and while it's impossible to fully analyze, right away you can see the difference!

Those photos, my eyes = Sex on the beach.

[GodzillaBurgh]

I really hope they do a 4k on the 1957 Japanese version of KOTM and restore the cropped aspect ratio.

[omgitsgodzilla]

This is absolutely spectacular. I wish Toho would carry out a full-series restoration project; the detail in these stills looks incredible and I'd love to have these transfers on a home format.

[G-Matt]

https://www.facebook.com/august.ragone/ ... 5446818185

Mothra vs. Godzilla just got the 4k treatment!

From August Ragone:

The "Nippon Eiga Senmon Channel" on Japanese satellite cable just ran the classic 1964 kaiju spectacle and viewers are commenting on how fantastic it looks (considering Toho Video's previous Blu-ray release), prompting master artist Yuji Kaida to exclaim that these shots "look like color stills!"

Pictures taken from an iPhone of a TV screen are included in the full post, and while it's impossible to fully analyze, right away you can see the difference!

Wow!

[Chrispy_G]

This is absolutely spectacular. I wish Toho would carry out a full-series restoration project; the detail in these stills looks incredible and I'd love to have these transfers on a home format.

I honestly kinda get the vibe that that is what is happening. An article back in the day noted that 1 minute from each film was done as a test. The original film received it, King Kong vs Godzilla received it, and more and more we are hearing about and seeing footage from different films. Excluding Godzilla Raids Again....they've essentially been going in order from the very first film. The original, King Kong vs Godzilla, Godzilla vs Mothra.

To me it just feels like all signs point to this being a franchise spanning project, and not necessarily something they are doing in one-off instances for show. As they move forward in the franchise, I would imagine that the restoration process would become less time consuming and costly.

Funny that Criterion now has rights to 11 films. Criterion is also known for their own high quality restorations and remastering of films. They performed a new 4K Restoration of Night of the Living Dead for their upcoming Blu Ray release in February, almost every title you look up on their site boasts some kind of 'new' restoration/transfer/master done for the release, in past years they seemed content using 2K sources, but most recent titles have been highlighting the 4K sources.

I wonder, if Toho does have 4K Restoration aspirations for the entire franchise, if they would be willing/interested in joining efforts with other companies in order to make it more feasible from a time/money perspective?

I'm not terribly picky. In a pipe-dream scenario, simply getting Blu Rays sourced from 4K masters of the films would yield better results than I ever could hope for when it comes to this particular franchise. I'm not going to be the one turning up my nose because they aren't actually getting 4K Blu Ray Disc releases.

[Tamura]

The 4K compilation was created last year to cash in on Shin, not as a test for something bigger in the future. The images of Mothra vs. Godzilla are from said 4K compilation, not a complete restoration, as Joseph Goodman said. I recognize these shots taken of the screen as being from the compilation. None of this is new or what August claims it is. There is zero evidence that any more Godzilla films besides the original and King Kong vs. Godzilla have been or are getting restored in 4K. Toho is still supplying companies like Janus with their old 2K transfers, some of which are nearly a decade old.

Criterion did not restore Night of the Living Dead. They are releasing a restoration done by Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation last year. Not everything they release is something created in-house, and that includes their flagship label, not just Eclipse.

[GodzillaBurgh]

Compilation or not, it still looks a lot better than the transfers seen over the last few years.

[Goji]

Compilation or not, it still looks a lot better than the transfers seen over the last few years.

Well, yeah, duh, but that's completely missing the point.

[Joseph Goodman]

The 4K compilation was created last year to cash in on Shin, not as a test for something bigger in the future. .

It was actually done in 2014 to tie in with the 60th anniversary, and the release of the Legendary film. Interestingly, in this article: http://www.stereosound.co.jp/review/art ... 394-3.html

...Google translate renders the following quote as saying that they had to scan almost all of the films, not just the parts in the compilation:

清水　ちなみに今回はダイジェストでしたが、必要なシーンを集めるためにほとんどすべてのロールの映像をスキャンしなくてはなりませんでした。そこは三木が苦労したところです

[Tamura]

I stand corrected! I knew it was a tie-in, but mixed up what it was supposed to tie in with. My bad.

[Rody]

^I'd say that proves the point even further, regrettably. If those scenes are 3 years old now, it doesn't bode very well for seeing more work of that kind.

[Chrispy_G]

I'll keep fingers crossed. Logically/Financially....why would they only want new 4K restorations of certain films? If they truly are vested in the 'legacy' of Godzilla....I feel like they would want this for every film.

Celebrating Godzilla's 65 year anniversary with home video releases sourced from 4K Restorations would be pretty glorious.

[omgitsgodzilla]

If they truly are vested in the 'legacy' of Godzilla....

And there, lads, is a very big "if."

(If they truly were, one would think the existing Toho home video transfers would be better.)

[Tamura]

Logically/Financially....why would they only want new 4K restorations of certain films?

Because it costs less money?

[Chrispy_G]

True....but if they want to continue to have valid ways to create as much revenue as possible from all of these films, it makes sense for the entire catalog to be available for the highest standard of presentation.

4K broadcasting, 4K streaming, 4K sourced home market releases....65 year anniversary re-issues/re-broadcasts, 70 year anniversary re-issues/re-broadcasts....all of this for Japan and international markets. They can cough up the money now and have these viable revenue streams for years, or NOT, and any film they don't convert will make them 0 dollars in these markets.

[GodzillaBurgh]

Toho better not pass up the oppurtunity to put these babies in 4K. I'm also hoping for tons and tons of extras.

[Chrispy_G]

Toho better not pass up the oppurtunity to put these babies in 4K. I'm also hoping for tons and tons of extras.

I would be more than satisfied with simply having an audio commentary on every film. Getting an expert or two to discuss the film for the duration of the piece is a lot more informative and interesting to me than a 5-10 minute mini-doc.