The Millennium Legacy

[JVM]

The Millennium run has a major disadvantage compared to its predecessors. The Showa films were the innovators and will always be held high for being first. The Heisei films built up a reputation for themselves during the early 90's, so fans tend to overrate the series's overall importance in light of its relative obscurity. With the Millennium films, we have a collection of movies that were mostly dumped direct-to-video in the wake of a disappointing Hollywood movie. There was neither the prestige of the originals or the anticipation (and bootlegging) of the middle series. Lack of mystique = weaker reputation.

This has to be the most intelligent thing I've seen posted in quite some time. Well said man.

I agree, that's an excellent point. The only Millennium film that got a lot of fan anticipation was GFW.

[Legion1979]

Yeah, I honestly couldn't have said that better myself. That's also a great explanation of how the Heisei series is going to be remembered.

[Tomzilla]

It really depends on how many new fans the Millennium series attracted. There's also the matter of how many people were inspired by these films. Let's start with the former sentence first before getting into the latter.

Box Office wise, the Millennium films struck me as the weakest in the series. GMK was a huge success. But what about the other films? How well do they compare to the Heisei Box Office revenue? Did the Millennium films sell more merchandise? Were the majority of film-goers children or older fans? I'm not an expert. I can't say for certain how well these films did when compared to the previous installments. But what I do know is one of the biggest reasons why the Showa and Heisei films were successful is because of the number of fans they generated. Even to this day, they're celebrated by the same people those films inspired in the days of their prime.

Which brings me to the matter of inspiration itself. Were these films really that much different than what we've seen? Were they new, exciting stories? Or were they rehashed films, not unlike what we saw in the '60s-'90s only with improved SFX? In my opinion, it's the latter. They're not that groundbreaking, if at all. Main reason why fans like 'em is because of the kaiju designs. Only GMK has a strong following not only in the kaiju designs but in the film story itself. There are OK action scenes here and there. But ultimately, they're not innovative enough to maintain whatever fame they have for long. I'm not saying the Millennium series will be forgotten; it'll just slip into obscurity. Most of the Godzilla films already have.

Only the fans will ever really remember these films. If by chance a large number of young people saw the new films and loved 'em, then we'll see a community resurgence in due time. Until then we'll be seeing the same old faces, which sums up the Millennium films nicely. I like 'em for what they are. GMK is one of my favorite Godzilla films by far. I just can't say the same for the rest of 'em.

[Legion1979]

Box Office wise, the Millennium films struck me as the weakest in the series. GMK was a huge success.

I wouldn't say it was a huge success, but it did really well.

But what about the other films? How well do they compare to the Heisei Box Office revenue?

Nowhere near as good. Godzilla vs Mothra through Godzilla vs Destroyah did incredibly well at the box office. In fact, Mothra and Destroyah are the top moneymakers of the franchise. By contrast, Godzilla X Megagiras and GFW both bombed. Additionally half of the Millennium films were paired with Hamtaro so there's a good chance a chunk of their box office came from a little anime hamster and NOT Godzilla.

Did the Millennium films sell more merchandise?

No really sure, but I don't think the GFW merchandise sold very well, and there was almost nothing released for GxM.