The Reiwa Era and Godzilla Movie Grouping

[kamilleblu]

I've seen it mentioned a few times, but the Godzilla Anime trilogy did receive a general release in Japan.

The Japanese box office analyst I follow said they were more treated like a late night anime film than a hit or blockbuster. He said 158 theaters is less than half of a general release and barely counts as a wide release. Their performances were described as disappointing and that calling them unsuccessful isn't entirely out of the question. But he also suspects Toho didn't expect too much out of them due to how they were handled and putting them into theater was more than likely an afterthought. For what it's worth, they all opened in the top ten. Planet of the Monsters did the best (it seems to have been promoted the most) and City on the Edge of Battle (got the least promotion from what I can tell) did the worst. I'm very roughly estimating approximately $7.5 million from the entire trilogy.

Looking at the numbers you provided for the Millennium films, it seems like the anime films were only given just over half of what films like Godzilla Final Wars received. That combined with the comparatively minimal promotion and alienating format should account for a lot of differences in performances. Slow-moving science-fiction doesn't put butts in seats.

[Arbok]

The Japanese box office analyst I follow...

Who is that, if you don't mind me asking? Always hungry for more box office analyzation for Japan.

...said they were more treated like a late night anime film than a hit or blockbuster.

If only comparing it to what Toho can do for a film, they are the most powerful Japanese distributor, or the treatment given to the US blockbusters (which you can do a whole article on why the US films will always get much more theaters than the Japanese ones): this is true. If we look at all the studios, though, that would mean certain studios almost exclusively do "late night film" style releases.

For example, counting backwards from today to look at 2019 releases, here are the theater counts for the last five movies distributed by Shochiku that ranked in the top ten (lazy title translations by me):

- Movie Boys ~ 158 theaters
- Osomatsu-san the Movie ~ 126 theaters
- Ultraman R/B The Movie: Select! The Crystal of Bond ~ 105 theaters
- Love Live Sunshine! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow ~ 128 theaters
- Such a Late Night Banana or Beloved True Story ~ 330 theaters

Of those, only one eclipsed the theater count of the Anime trilogy.

...City on the Edge of Battle (got the least promotion from what I can tell)...

You can read this report from Nicholas, who saw the movie in Japan, as an anecdotal vouch for that: https://www.tohokingdom.com/blog/godzil ... pressions/

Looking at the numbers you provided for the Millennium films, it seems like the anime films were only given just over half of what films like Godzilla Final Wars received.

Yeah this has motivated me to crunch more numbers. It's not in question that Toho gave these less theaters than a normal movie of this pedigree. Comparing it to other science fiction films from Toho, the only one I found that got less theaters was the 2009 movie Go Find a Psychic! ...which also did pretty bad at the box office. That said, not finished looking at data for all of them. Might move on to compare it to other anime releases next.

EDIT: So after further research I discovered I was wrong. When I was quoting the earlier Godzilla films, that was not theater count... that was screen count. Their theater count would be less, for example Godzilla Resurgence was on 441 screens across 348 theaters. Finding theater count for the earlier Godzilla movies is proving tough, though. Likewise I'm not able to find a screen count for the Godzilla anime trilogy. So this is an apples to oranges comparison at the moment, except for the fact that the stated screens means the theater count would be less than those numbers.

[Gojirawars 03]

Does this mean that the "Shin and Beyond" section here should be retitled to the "Reiwa Era?"

[Vakanai]

Does this mean that the "Shin and Beyond" section here should be retitled to the "Reiwa Era?"

Eh, split the difference and call it "Shin and Reiwa Era".

[miguelnuva]

If it was me unless millennium is an official title I would go

Heisei 1: ROG and 1989-1998
Heisei 2: 1999-2015
Heisei 3: 2016-2019

Reiwa: 2019-curent

[szmigiel]

Western fans are still jumping the gun on the Reiwa Era grouping. I can't believe the Godzilla Franchise Wikipedia page has already been changed.
The Japanese Wikipedia page still list 2010's (Shin Godzilla), the Anime Trilogy, and the MonsterVerse each as its own grouping. I don't think these films will ever get retroactively be placed in the Reiwa Era, like Godzilla 1984 aka Return of Godzilla was changed to Heisei.
As a fandom we follow the Japanese terminology since that is what will be used in official book published in Japan.

[CCMan]

I don't think these films will ever get retroactively be placed in the Reiwa Era, like Godzilla 1984 aka Return of Godzilla was changed to Heisei.

That's a good point. The only reason 84 gets grouped in is because it's part of a single continuity with the other Heisei movies. The recent movies don't share a continuity at all so there's no reason to group them together retroactively.

[FinalSmash1689]

I say we count Shin and the Anime Trilogy as part of the Millennium series. They both have their own continuity like the rest of the Millennium series anyway and the next iteration that Toho makes will be the start of the Reiwa Era.

[JAGzilla]

I say we count Shin and the Anime Trilogy as part of the Millennium series. They both have their own continuity like the rest of the Millennium series anyway and the next iteration that Toho makes will be the start of the Reiwa Era.

There is a lot of logic here, and decades and multiple films from now this may seem the no-brainer thing to do. Right now, though, the twelve year gap between GFW and Shin is still fresh in our minds and it makes them feel so separate. The 'Millennium Series' was a complete package for so long, and it feels strange to add these new movies to it. I don't blame people for trying so hard to categorize Shin and the Anime Trilogy as something new. But yes, I agree that the Reiwa Era should begin with Toho's next film.

[Terasawa]

I’ll counter that the Toho crew that guided and made the Millennium films is distinct enough (read: entirely different than) from the crews that produced the four recent Japanese films, and that’s far more important a consideration for me than whether or not the films serve the same chronologies or especially the same purpose in the overall franchise canon.

[eabaker]

I’ll counter that the Toho crew that guided and made the Millennium films is distinct enough (read: entirely different than) from the crews that produced the four recent Japanese films, and that’s far more important a consideration for me than whether or not the films serve the same chronologies or especially the same purpose in the overall franchise canon.

Exactly. The Millennium Series was a specific project, conceived in the late 90s and overseen by Shogo Tomiyama. That project ended, as did Tomiyama's direct involvement in the Godzilla franchise as a whole. Fans didn't name it or define it, so we certainly don't get to re-define it a decade and a half after it definitively ended.

[M.U.T.O.]

Welp. Looks like Toho's officially callin' it as such.
See the "filmography" section.

(image is clickable)

[miguelnuva]

It's official.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Welp. Looks like Toho's officially callin' it as such.
See the "filmography" section.

(image is clickable)

That settles that. The fact that they refer to the Millennium Era as such is also evident.

Looks like they`re also lumping Shin, and the anime trilogy together.

They also just flat out lump the Monsterverse as "Hollywood" and depending on what it says 98 might just be lumped in with that. Edit: Looks like 98 is just viewed as Hollywood, which makes sense. I honestly think that`s more interesting then the Reiwa thing.

Edit:
I think the fact that Toho lumped the Anime Trilogy with Shin, despite not being directly made by Toho, and put 98 in the Hollywood Category(they don`t care for the Monsterverse labeling) is very fascinating. The implication means that basically any Godzilla film outside of Japan, is going to go in the Hollywood Category, which future films, made in Japan, will still be grouped together.

[Stump Feet]

That mean we’re finally getting a sub forum name change?

[LSD Jellyfish]

That mean we’re finally getting a sub forum name change?

Yeah but more excitingly, Godzilla 98 can now be talked about in the Monsterverse forum

Honestly, the name is meaningless. The more exciting thing is that they organized it so it`s clear they intend to make many more films after Shin and the anime trilogy. We know this obviously, but hey.

[_JNavs_]

I like how they clearly respect the Hollywood films since the biggest quote on the wall is from 2014 Serizawa.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I like how they clearly respect the Hollywood films since the biggest quote on the wall is from 2014 Serizawa.

Or maybe because it`s at an American event with English speaking audiences who are most likely more familiar with 2014 as opposed to Terror of MechaGodzilla?

The incessant need for validation is strong here.

[_JNavs_]

I like how they clearly respect the Hollywood films since the biggest quote on the wall is from 2014 Serizawa.

Or maybe because it`s at an American event with English speaking audiences who are most likely more familiar with 2014 as opposed to Terror of MechaGodzilla?

The incessant need for validation is strong here.

Maybe take a chill pill? Not everything needs to be a Japanese circle jerk or bust, just acknowledging the respect shown to the 2014 film.

The incessant need for 検証 is strong here.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I like how they clearly respect the Hollywood films since the biggest quote on the wall is from 2014 Serizawa.

Or maybe because it`s at an American event with English speaking audiences who are most likely more familiar with 2014 as opposed to Terror of MechaGodzilla?

The incessant need for validation is strong here.

Maybe take a chill pill? Not everything needs to be a Japanese circle jerk or bust, just acknowledging the respect shown to the 2014 film.

The incessant need for 検証 is strong here.

Great you learned how to use Google Translate!


G14 is a respectable film, that made a lot of money, of course they`d throw in a quote that fits. You making a note about it though shows your need for validation though. And of course, since this is SDCC they`d put that on display. I saw it as something really innocuous.