Yoshimitsu Banno, during his attendance at G-Fest in Chicago this weekend, laid out his plans for, what he hopes, is his upcoming 3-D IMAX feature on Godzilla. As expected from his previous work in the genre, as the director of Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) and writer on Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974), Banno intends to display a strong environmental message in the motion picture. The big news, though, is that the director does not intend to feature his most famous creation, Hedorah, in the new film as assumed. Instead, a new monster will be showcased named Deathla (or Deathrah/Desrah using Romaji). This new creature, as opposed to feeding off pollution, will consume chlorophyll, a process Banno compared to a swarm of locusts, making it deadly to most natural environments. As Banno explained, it was his intention that this new creature be even more powerful than Hedorah was against Godzilla. Deathla's first attack in the film is supposed to occur in the rainforest, until Godzilla shows up and the battle ends up eventually in New York. The two creature's are stated to fight fiercely in front of the Statue of Liberty, while the World's children pray that Godzilla will survive. The two combatants are then dragged out to South America, Banno specifically stated that Godzilla would "fly out" to South America but it wasn't clear if this was simply a wink at the famous scene in Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) or not (although further inquiries pointed more toward the former), for what's assumed to be the final confrontation with the two monsters.

The big question, though, is what chances does the project have of actually making it into theaters? Toho has already granted Banno permission to make the film, but won't finance the endeavor. The director's projected budget for the film is roughly $10 million, more than most of the Millennium Godzilla films, which he will have to secure from another interested party. However, as Banno disclosed, Toho will give international rights to the picture over to Banno if the film is made, which gives the proposal some leverage as this can be offered in exchange for the movie's expenses. Despite the seemingly daunting task of raising the money needed for the picture, Banno seemed very optimistic that the film would get made, and discussed that, directly following the convention, he would visit Los Angeles, California, to try and raise the needed financing. Assuming that goes well, Banno stated that he expected camera tests to start as early as September or October of this year, with the film being finished by Summer 2006.

Update: Henshin!Online has added up details regarding the IMAX feature, including the following the following list of product crew set to work on Banno's project: Eiichi Asada (Godzilla: Final Wars [2004]) as the Special Effects director, Keith Melton (Cirque Du Soleil: Journey of Man) as assistant director while the co-producers will be Roger Holden and Brian Rogers (Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time). The new proposed budget is apparently $9 million, which is more in lines with the other Millennium films, and the feature will have a running time of 40 minutes. Head over to Henshin!Online for the full details.