During the early stages of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), the anticipation for TriStar's "American Godzilla" movie was in full force within Toho. Production assistant Shinichiro Arimasa pitched the idea of the "TriStar" Godzilla to fight Toho's Godzilla to Shogo Tomiyama in an effort to raise excitement for and connect to the upcoming American Godzilla movie. While Tomiyama was not against the idea himself, Toho already had a rule set where the movies could not feature a "true" Godzilla vs. Godzilla type match. This was a major roadblock in itself, but the Toho Godzilla vs. TriStar Godzilla movie would truly meet its end the following year. Not only was the "VS Series" retired following Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), but TriStar's Godzilla movie saw multiple delays, the replacing of directors, and a design overhaul of the titular monster, resulting in what would become GODZILLA (1998).
Nearly a decade later, Arimasa's vision would be resurrected in an unusual way. Tomiyama introduced the monster Zilla to fight the king of the monsters in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), circumventing Toho's "no Godzilla vs. Godzilla" rule and spiritually pitting the TriStar (American) Godzilla against the Toho (Japanese) Godzilla. |
