What do you do if you're SONY?

[Legion1979]

GINO's merchandise tanked horribly and a shitload of retailers and licensees were burned. That counts for a lot too.

[Ethan]

GINO's merchandise tanked horribly and a shitload of retailers and licensees were burned. That counts for a lot too.

Ah, the GINO: the Series toys, innocent victims of a monumental disaster.

[Tohosaurus]

I don't think a sequel to GINO was ever actually "planned". They had the option but never used it.

I believe we had someone post the outlining they had for it a couple of months ago on here. The bulk of the movie took place on an island. I don't know if they wanted a change in direction or not, but didn't they also seek out the rights to Mothra and/or King Ghidorah? Toho wanted a lot of money and luckily they never had the chance to work their "magic" with those monsters.

Uh huh. What I'm trying to say is, as a speculative bigwig for Sony Entertainment, if a movie I put my stamp on a movie that isn't successful in the country I'm in charge of, I'm not going to take the risk of doing it again. That's stupid business. You say GINO made 350 million, wikipedia says it was over 379 million and that's all well and good, but in the United States "Godzilla went on to top out domestically at $136,314,294 in total ticket sales through an 8-week theatrical run." A 6 million dollar profit is better than no profit at all, but when the investment is $130 million, that's pathetic. The overseas tally isn't what my department concerns itself with. I'd rather stick money behind eight movies where Adam Sandler acts like a 12 year old for 90 minutes because they don't cost much and people always go to see them. That's what I would do if I worked for Sony, and since Sony let their rights to make a second Godzilla movie expire rather than try their luck again, I'd say I'm pretty much in unison with their line of thinking.

I think if you're limiting this to just the United States a lot of movies would appear less impressive. No one in business is going to totally ignore the 200+ million you made. Anyhow, I'm not really looking to derail this thread so I'll let you have your final thoughts and we'll let it go.

[TheSecondComing]

I made the assumption that I was running Sony's operations in America and went from there. GINO barely made its box office back (and it probably cost more than 6 million dollars for the massive ad campaign we ran), so in my vision of the company's future, it isn't worth making a second one.

I forget who said (I'm paraphrasing here) "expect to see a lot of screaming lizards in the bargain bin soon" in reference to the merchandise, but I digress.

[Legion1979]

I forget who said (I'm paraphrasing here) "expect to see a lot of screaming lizards in the bargain bin soon" in reference to the merchandise, but I digress.

I think Steve Ryfle wrote that in his book.

[kpa]

Sorry for the late reply, but I think I can answer some questions here.

When Sony licensed Godzilla from Toho in 1992, they saw Godzilla as a potential "tentpole". That means a hit franchise that makes a ton of money at theaters, sells a lot of merchandise and advertising, and spawns a series of sequels... not necessarily to the same scale but something along the lines of 007, Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man, Transformers and Lord of the Rings.

The film they released in 1998 was profitable, but it was nowhere near what Sony wanted or expected. Sony expected GODZILLA to break the opening record set by THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (it did about a third less) and to be the #1 film of the year (it finished in 9th place). They also believed it would earn more than $250 million in the US alone, but the final take was barely half that amount. So the movie opened weaker than expected and plummeted fast (it earned less than $10 million in its 3rd week of release)... far from the tentpole Sony wanted. Adding to the problems, the movie was trashed by audiences, critics, and theater owners, and was seen as a failure in Hollywood. Plus retailers complained because the merchandising didn't sell as hoped. So while GODZILLA wasn't a flop, Sony realized there was no real interest in a sequel.

Their contract with Toho stated that, to keep the license, they had to have a second film in production within 5 years of the release of the first. That gave Sony up to May 20, 2003 so they decided to take time to consider their options. They thought about doing GODZILLA 2 with Devlin and Emmerich but soon dropped that idea. Then they thought about doing a complete reboot, and releasing Toho's GODZILLA 2000 allowed for a break between the D&E film and whatever Sony decided to do next. Ultimately Sony decided to drop the matter and let the rights revert back to Toho.

My hope is that one day someone comes out with either a book or a big article on the entire American Godzilla fiasco from the very beginning to the end so we can really know what all the plans where from the beginning and why everything ended up the way it did

I'm working on a big feature article for SciFi Japan about the Jan DeBont (not Joe Dante) version of GODZILLA. It won't be completed for quite a while since I'm still doing research, but I have spoken with over a dozen people who worked on it and have been given production photos and artwork that have never been made public.

When the article is finished I'll be sure to post an announcement here.

[Legion1979]

My hope is that one day someone comes out with either a book or a big article on the entire American Godzilla fiasco from the very beginning to the end so we can really know what all the plans where from the beginning and why everything ended up the way it did

I'm working on a big feature article for SciFi Japan about the Jan DeBont (not Joe Dante) version of GODZILLA. It won't be completed for quite a while since I'm still doing research, but I have spoken with over a dozen people who worked on it and have been given production photos and artwork that have never been made public.

When the article is finished I'll be sure to post an announcement here.

In the meantime, Steve Ryfle's book "Japan's Favorite Mon-Star" has a very lengthy chapter on the making of GINO, early concepts and all.

[Hellspawn28]

Ugh, this "GINO was financially succesful" dung again? It was a bomb, get over it already.

Not really a bomb since the film did had a worldwide gross of $379,014,294, almost triple of its estimated budget of 125 million US dollars (according to http://www.the-numbers.com & http://www.wolframalpha.com ). Ishtar (1987), North (1994), Cutthroat Island (1995), Battlefield Earth (2000), Speed Racer (2008), Mars Needs Moms (2011)and Green Lantern (2011) are examples of bombs. It could have done better but for a movie that is based off of something like Godzilla is not too bad. Sony was really crazy if they think that they could beat the second Jurassic Park movie since that movie was a sequel to a major film .

Godzilla went on to top out domestically at $136,314,294 in total ticket sales through an 8-week theatrical run." A 6 million dollar profit is better than no profit at all, but when the investment is $130 million, that's pathetic.

But US box office is not everything since most movies make most of their money over seas. It would be calling the 3rd Pirates of Caribbean film a failure because it made back 307 million in the at domestic market with a budget of 300 million. Same with 2012, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), Alien 3 (1992), Spawn (1997), X-Men: First Class (2011), Rango (2011) and Mission: Impossible III (2006).

I believe we had someone post the outlining they had for it a couple of months ago on here. The bulk of the movie took place on an island

You talking about this?

http://www.myspace.com/help/browserunsupported

Captain America had a similar budget and made a similar amount of money

Captain America's budget is 140 million, larger's then GINO's.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/b ... ica-214766

I don't think a sequel to GINO was ever actually "planned". They had the option but never used it.

Tab Murphy ("Tarzan") did made a story treatment back in 1999 (I think) and I remember Kpa once saying on the old forums that D&E left the project by the time it was done and end up doing The Patriot (2000) instead?

[Ethan]

Ugh, this "GINO was financially succesful" dung again? It was a bomb, get over it already.

Not really a bomb since the film did had a worldwide gross of $379,014,294, almost triple of its estimated budget of 125 million US dollars (according to http://www.the-numbers.com & http://www.wolframalpha.com ). Ishtar (1987), North (1994), Cutthroat Island (1995), Battlefield Earth (2000), Speed Racer (2008), Mars Needs Moms (2011)and Green Lantern (2011) are examples of bombs. It could have done better but for a movie that is based off of something like Godzilla is not too bad. Sony was really crazy if they think that they could beat the second Jurassic Park movie since that movie was a sequel to a major film .

Numbers don't mean a thing. One can parrot that GINO made "$379,014,294 worldwide", but this doesn't change the fact that:

• It underperformed, especially compared to an earlier film done by the same filmmakers.
• The merchandising fared to poorly that a toyline based on the TV series was cancelled without a second thought.
• Theater owners wanted it out of the screens sooner than usual.
• Critics and general moviegoers alike hated the film.

[Legion1979]

Numbers don't mean a thing. One can parrot that GINO made "$379,014,294 worldwide", but this doesn't change the fact that:
[list][*]It underperformed, especially compared to an earlier film done by the same filmmakers.

Yeah how much did ID4 make worldwide? Over $800,000,000? Anyone expecting Devlin and Emmerich to bring in the same kind of money with GINO would have been PISSED!

[Hellspawn28]

ID4 made more since it was more appealing movie since you had aliens blowing shit up and Will Smith as the lead role, not to mention the movie reviews where much better compare to GINO. While GINO 2 did sound like a better film, if it was made then I would imagine it would make less then the first film and most people would avoid it. It would be like making a sequel to Ange Lee's Hulk, people don't like seeing sequels to movies that really hate (Don't mention Transformers, Twilight and Ghost Rider since those movies made tons of money and the studios know that the general movie goers will still pay money to see them).

At least we are getting a reboot from Legendary Pictures, it should not be that hard to make a movie better then GINO.

[XxComablack1937xX]

Can't compare ID4 to GINO, Simple reason.... ID4 didn't have at the time 40+ years of an established fan-base.

Let's not add it had more bankable character's (Will Smith an Jeff Goldblum), for an Emmerich film better dialog an of course action sequences....Also it was better paced.. With Godzilla you were actually hoping it would end by the time they hit Madison Square Garden... Which is an obvious terrible sign considering what there was still 45+ min left from that point?

Let's put aside the fact it was titled ''Godzilla'' or even remotely related to the character.. an even by Emmerich standards it was a very weak an rushed film.

The studio rushed it, There were no test screenings, Dean Devlin as you could tell didn't put a lot of serious effort into the script or it's character's.. An the only good actor in the film was Jean Reno, an he wasn't even the main character.. Who the hell thought it was a great idea to get Broderick as an action star? He maybe talented but the thought of him as an action star is laughable.

An like ''Hellspawn28'' said they'd actually have to TRY an make a worse film then GINO an even then i'd still pay to see it because i wouldn't believe it was possible unless i saw it with my own eyes.

[Hellspawn28]

GINO 2 had Godzilla fighting another monster and having a atomic blast, something fans wanted in the first movie but with the GTS being so popular at the time then what would be the point having a sequel? It would have been a better movie which is not saying much, I doubt it would have been good enough to have people go see it.

[Legion1979]

GINO 2 had Godzilla fighting another monster and having a atomic blast, something fans wanted in the first movie but with the GTS being so popular at the time then what would be the point having a sequel?

I don't remember the animated series being all that popular. Certainly not so popular that Sony would have abandoned plans for a sequel IF they throught one would be a success.

[Hellspawn28]

I recall that GTS was Fox Kids most popular show at the time until Digimon was release a year later?

[miguelnuva]

If I were sony I would have the last Gino egg grow up and then team with the Gryphon or any kaiju against the real Godzilla.

[kpa]

GINO 2 had Godzilla fighting another monster and having a atomic blast, something fans wanted in the first movie but with the GTS being so popular at the time then what would be the point having a sequel?

I don't remember the animated series being all that popular.

It was the top rated show for its target audience (boys 6-11).

Certainly not so popular that Sony would have abandoned plans for a sequel IF they throught one would be a success.

Exactly. The cartoon had nothing to do with Sony dropping plans for a film sequel. Sony dropped GODZILLA 2 for the reasons I stated earlier... the first film performed far below their expectations, and the negative reactions from audiences, theater owners, licensees and retailers made it clear that there was little to no interest for a second film. The studio was not about to spend $100 million + on a sequel that nobody wanted.

[Gawdziller]

What would I do if I were Sony?

Nothing. I'd be a company, not a person. The people running me would be doing lots of stuff, but I'd just sit there with my brand name looking pretty.

Now, if I were running Sony, that'd be a different story. I'd make money off of whatever I can. Pretty much exactly what it's doing. But with more Three Stooges releases.

[JGAR4Entertainment]

If I were Sony I would obviously prevent GINO no matter the cost.

[kiryu42red]

if i were sony, i'd re watch all the godzilla movie, and then think about making godzilla 2