Unmade Film
Intended Release: 1995

Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla

ゴジラVSゴーストゴジラ
[Gojira vs. Gosutogojira]

The first Godzilla, which appeared in Tokyo Bay in 1954, was said to have been killed by the Oxygen Destroyer. In truth, the destruction of the oxygen in the water caused an instant time leap of 10,000 years to occur, destroying Godzilla's body and bones. However, the life energy from its huge body remained on the ocean floor in the form of bioenergy.

Over the next 40 years, the residual bioenergies would gather little by little, culminating in an unseen mass of consciousness which longed for a physical form. Strange and unexplainable phenomena begin to plague Japan, such as bridges suddenly falling, buildings collapsing out of nowhere, the ground caving in, rivers flowing backwards, and the sky suddenly turning dark in the middle of the day. Little did the frightened residents of Tokyo realize that the invisible body of the first Godzilla was among them.

This unseen force, referred to by name as "Ghost", had carried over the anger and pain inflicted upon the first Godzilla at the moment of its death, and as a result Ghost held a deep hatred towards humans and their cities. Somewhere down the line, Ghost would eventually find its first opponent in LittleGodzilla, and sensing the similarities between the two, Ghost would possess the young monster and forcibly transform the juvenile into its image.

Now in a physical form, "Ghost Godzilla" would be challenged by the modern day second Godzilla, the father of LittleGodzilla. In order to set LittleGodzilla's robbed body free, the second Godzilla made it its mission to exorcise the demon dwelling in its child. All the while, the devilish Ghost Godzilla now had a new goal in mind - to defeat the second Godzilla and steal its body, and become an invincible destruction god.

※ For a look at the project's original format, please refer to the article: Tomiyama's Proposal: Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla Translation

LOST PROJECT HISTORY

The earliest pitch for a "Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla"-type film. With the Hollywood version of Godzilla on the horizon, ideas for the next Japanese Godzilla movie began to circulate. Even before the release of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), special effects director Koichi Kawakita knew the end was in sight, realizing how the constant "monster versus monster" showdowns were beginning to wear on moviegoers. Because of this, the major theme for the tentatively titled "Godzilla 7" would be "Godzilla dies", to which producer Shogo Tomiyama did not object. While Godzilla and an opposing monster fighting would remain the foundation of the story, the primary objective of "Godzilla 7" was to be the final project of this "VS Series" of movies.

While Kawakita was confident in this direction, he still required the consent of one more person: Tomoyuki Tanaka. Toho's long-time producer and the creator of Godzilla, Tanaka was resting at home due to his failing health from old age, and as a result had been absent from the discussions to kill off Godzilla. However, when presented with the idea, Tanaka accepted it without hesitation, believing that the essence of film entertainment was to "surprise" moviegoers in unexpected ways, in turn drawing in a greater audience. Though now on board with the project, Tanaka had two conditions: "give a death worthy to a big star like Godzilla", and "this will not be the end, Godzilla's death will lead to something new". Thus, work on "Godzilla 7" officially began in November of 1994.

Before passing the baton to the Hollywood version of Godzilla, Tomiyama aimed to create something that resonated as strongly with the original Godzilla (1954) as The Return of Godzilla (1984) had when this reboot series began. From this, the idea of "Ghost Godzilla" was born, and sometime in late November, Tomiyama submitted his proposal: Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla. Unlike traditional scripts, Tomiyama's draft was handled very differently, beginning with a brief synopsis of how Ghost Godzilla came to be, then describing in greater detail the monster's powers, behavior, and motivations in the form of a list. The list of Ghost Godzilla's "special abilities and features" make up the majority of the draft, with its supernatural abilities said to have resulted from the combination of Ghost's bioenergy and LittleGodzilla's living form.

Following his proposal, Tomiyama wished for a more substantial script to be made. As work finished on Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) in November of 1994, Tomiyama approached screenwriter Kazuki Omori, the first person to truly kick off the "VS Series" with his directorial work on Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989). Omori, who was in the middle of shooting Broken Heart (1995), was tasked to create his own adaptation of the Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla proposal - resulting in Godzilla vs. Godzilla (Story Plan A), which would feature a more fleshed-out story with human characters and the introduction of the deadly Neo Oxygen Destroyer.

Monsters

Background and Trivia

• The article picture featuring Ghost Godzilla was done through Toho Kingdom's interpretation of a concept drawing of the monster by Shinji Nishikawa.
• Full details of this draft can be found in the 2017 Japanese publication, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah Perfection (ISBN 4798615811). While said to be one of the earliest proposals for what would evolve into Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), the exact date for when this draft was submitted to Toho is unknown.
• The storyboards for the "Godzilla 7" theatrical notice featured in the "Images" section were created by Kawakita team members Shinji Nishikawa and Yosuke Nakano. The teaser was to be attached to the end of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), which was seeing a release on December 10th, 1994. While it never revealed the identity of Godzilla's next opponent, at the time the "unknown enemy" mentioned in the teaser was meant to be Ghost Godzilla.
• The logo for "Godzilla 7" can be found in the special features of the 2016 Toho-published Japanese DVD release of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994).

Images

Concept Evolution