Unmade Film
Intended Release: 1999

The Mysterians

地球防衛軍
[Chikyu Boeigun]

The Earth Defense Force prepares for a potential alien invasion.

LOST PROJECT HISTORY

Following in the footsteps of the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, another classic from Toho's library was in talks to be revived: 1957's The Mysterians. A personal favorite of special effects director Koichi Kawakita, the Heisei iteration would have also been a trilogy of movies, and the first of the three movies would have been released sometime following Rebirth of Mothra III (1998).

Unfortunately, as the Heisei Mothra movies did not do as well financially as Toho hoped, the 1990's trilogy for The Mysterians was scrapped in favor of resurrecting Godzilla.

Background and Trivia

• The mention of this unmade trilogy can be found in a group discussion between Shinji Nishikawa, Toshio Miike, Masahiko Shiraishi, and Makoto Kamiya in Tokusatsu Hiho Vol. 6 (ISBN: 4800312493). The trilogy was brought up by Nishikawa, saying how it would have been the next installment following the Rebirth of Mothra series, and how there was talk to revive Godzilla sometime in the 21st century. However, as the Heisei Mothra trilogy was "not a hit," the planned Mysterians trilogy was dropped, and Godzilla's retirement was cut short.
  
  When asked if Koichi Kawakita would have worked on this series, Nishikawa pointed out how Kawakita had stepped down as special effects director following Rebirth of Mothra II (1997). Likewise, according to Miike, producer Shogo Tomiyama was interested in having "new blood" work on future movies.