Godzilla (1998) 4K UltraHD disc coming May 2019

[Chrispy_G]

https://secure.sonypictures.com/movies/ ... 08=4KU004D

For what it is worth, Sony is taking write-in suggestions for future 4K releases. If enough people write in "All Godzilla movies you have distribution rights to" then maybe, MAYBE there is an outside shot they might put some of the Heisei/Millennium films out in 4K.

Heck....even JUST Godzilla 2000 would be a victory. It's worth a shot.

[UltramanGoji]

https://secure.sonypictures.com/movies/ ... 08=4KU004D

For what it is worth, Sony is taking write-in suggestions for future 4K releases. If enough people write in "All Godzilla movies you have distribution rights to" then maybe, MAYBE there is an outside shot they might put some of the Heisei/Millennium films out in 4K.

Heck....even JUST Godzilla 2000 would be a victory. It's worth a shot.

It's not going to happen.

Toho would never allow an American distribution company to release 4K versions of their films before they do. We're not getting any 4K Japanese Godzilla films until Japan does.

[Joseph Goodman]

the Showa films were severely cut up for the Champion Festival editions, and elements were junked, as was standard for the time.

As far as I can tell from Google-translated sources, this only happened to the camera negatives of KKvsG, Mothra vs Godzilla, and Astro-monster, which coincidently were the first three Champion Festival edits. The later edits were from edited dupes, possibly CRI's. As you may know, the trims from KKvsG did eventually turn up*, and were used in the 2016 4k restoration.


*they had actually been found and used for the 1991 Laserdisc master, but apparently went missing again by the time of Toho's 2008 HD remastering. All but the first reel's trims were found again and used for the 2014 Blu-Ray, with the Reel 1 trims located after the disc was released.

[MosuraTwin]

Considering the majority of the films were shot on 35mm film, it would be nice for them to do high resolution scans and sell 4K collections. I'd love to get the early films on 4K blu-ray.

I'd love it, as well. I think with a newer, sharper transfer, from better original materials (and with better colors, please), the Godzilla films, specifically from, say, Mothra vs. Godzilla to perhaps Biollante (especially The Return of Godzilla), those films would look spectacular. The issue is, unfortunately, the Showa films were severely cut up for the Champion Festival editions, and elements were junked, as was standard for the time. Film preservation was not even a concept, except if it profited the studios, so forget them cutting the footage and placing it neatly into safe cans in an air-conditioned, dry environment. This is why King Kong vs. Godzilla is all over the place for the Japanese version. Film cut, thrown away and that's it. The studios of the past really are putting all the work on preservationists and restorationists of today.

The unfortunate aspect is there is a bit of a culture difference between Japan and at least the United States. In Japan, home video is not nearly as big of a market as it is here in the states. This is why the official Japanese Blu-Rays of the films are upwards of fifty, sixty dollars a disc. It's just not as profitable there, and that causes a deterrence of spending the money and investment to do proper remasters (and in some cases, restorations), of nearly thirty Godzilla films.

Good points. It is interesting because in Japan the Laser Disc stayed around throughout the 1990s. So it would seem some Japanese film fans are interested in physical media. I hope the Japanese Showa films are collected and given a proper release in North America, despite the issues you mentioned.

[Servanov]

As far as I can tell from Google-translated sources, this only happened to the camera negatives of KKvsG, Mothra vs Godzilla, and Astro-monster, which coincidently were the first three Champion Festival edits. The later edits were from edited dupes, possibly CRI's.

And let's thank Godzilla it only happened on the negative for just those three films.

[mikelcho]

the Showa films were severely cut up for the Champion Festival editions, and elements were junked, as was standard for the time.

As far as I can tell from Google-translated sources, this only happened to the camera negatives of KKvsG, Mothra vs Godzilla, and Astro-monster, which coincidently were the first three Champion Festival edits. The later edits were from edited dupes, possibly CRI's. As you may know, the trims from KKvsG did eventually turn up*, and were used in the 2016 4k restoration.


*they had actually been found and used for the 1991 Laserdisc master, but apparently went missing again by the time of Toho's 2008 HD remastering. All but the first reel's trims were found again and used for the 2014 Blu-Ray, with the Reel 1 trims located after the disc was released.

Thanks! I was always wondering if the Japanese version of KKvsG had been, or ever would be, fully restored and now I see that it has been.

Now for the next question: how does it look visually, based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being excellent (or reasonably close) and 1 being completely horrible?

[Servanov]

Now for the next question: how does it look visually, based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being excellent (or reasonably close) and 1 being completely horrible?

Unfortunately, it has never been released on home video, and has only been shown on Japanese TV and such, so I can't speak to that, but perhaps SpaceHunterM might know, as I've seen some clips from it in the SpaceHunterM YouTube channel. Same thing with Mothra vs. Godzilla in terms of the lack of release.[/quote]

[Terasawa]

Unfortunately, it has never been released on home video, and has only been shown on Japanese TV and such, so I can't speak to that, but perhaps SpaceHunterM might know, as I've seen some clips from it in the SpaceHunterM YouTube channel.

Said videos.

[Joseph Goodman]

And let's thank Godzilla it only happened on the negative for just those three films. Also, it may or may not be a coincidence, but those are the first three films to actually get a 4K remaster/restoration from Toho.

There's no indication anywhere that MvsG and Astro-Monster have received full 4k restorations. None of Nihon-Eiga's publicity for the broadcasts of those films' Champion Festival cuts mention anything about 4k work being done, nor do any comments by Tokyo Laboratory staff.

[Servanov]

There's no indication anywhere that MvsG and Astro-Monster have received full 4k restorations. None of Nihon-Eiga's publicity for the broadcasts of those films' Champion Festival cuts mention anything about 4k work being done, nor do any comments by Tokyo Laboratory staff.

You're correct, my bad. Original comment edited.

[mikelcho]

Wow, it does look great!

And this has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray in Japan - this, their highest-selling Godzilla film to date in the entire run? That's strange, indeed!

[Chrispy_G]

We know they initially 'tested' their 4K restorations by doing 1 minute of each film. I read articles about the original having a finished restoration, and we know that KKVG has a finished restoration. We have to hope that they didn't just stop there...that they've continued the work. Because TECHNICALLY they already started the restoration on every movie

And as you move forward through the timeline of films, the restorations become easier and easier to do, as you are hypothetically dealing with newer and more well preserved materials.

[G1985]

All of them? The DVD had a good assortment of trailers, a featurette, one of the music videos, and a pretty good commentary track. At least a couple of those were ported over to the original Blu-ray release.

Revisiting this thread & topic, as I just got done cataloging the various G98 releases and their bonus features.

The single best reason IMO to get this year's 4K release is to get the trailers again, which have finally been included after being dropped from every release following the original one in 1998. If you're after best 1080p (not 4KUHD) picture, you'll want to pick up the "Remastered in 4K" one unless you really really value having the bonus features over the (comparatively better) image quality of the movie itself.


ORIGINAL DVD RELEASE (11/03/1998)
Audio commentary by the VFX supervisors
Behind the Scenes of Godzilla with (Harry Shearer as) Charles Caiman (7m, interviews with makers)
Wallflowers music video for Heroes
Godzilla Takes New York: five stills w/before and after effects shots
Cast/producer/director biographies
Teaser A (museum), Teaser B (fishing), Theatrical trailers

MONSTER EDITION DVD RELEASE (03/28/2006)
Audio commentary by the VFX supervisors
Behind the Scenes of Godzilla with (Harry Shearer as) Charles Caiman (7m, interviews with makers)
Wallflowers music video for Heroes
Godzilla Takes New York: five stills w/before and after effects shots
(lost) Photo gallery (14 stills)
All-Time Best of Godzilla Fight Scenes (10m, promotes other Sony releases)
3 episodes from Godzilla: The Series
"never-before-seen" production art gallery (50 stills)

BLU-RAY FIRST RELEASE (11/10/2009)
Audio commentary by the VFX supervisors
Behind the Scenes of Godzilla with (Harry Shearer as) Charles Caiman (7m, interviews with makers)
Wallflowers music video for Heroes
All-Time Best of Godzilla Fight Scenes (10m, promotes other Sony releases)
The Ultimate 'Godzilla' Multi-Player Trivia Game

BLU-RAY "REMASTERED IN 4K EDITION" (07/16/2013)
remastered video, no bonus features at all

4K UHD EDITION (05/14/2019)
On 4K disk: Teaser A, Teaser B, Theatrical trailers
On 1080p disk: identical in picture quality and bonus content to the 2009 Blu-ray release

[G-MAN]

Honestly really bummed that there wasn't much new included extras wise as I've always wanted some stuff like the full behind the scenes stuff with Caiman, where you get to see some stuff at toho and with freaking Nakajima. or at least some of the behind the scenes stuff with the practical and visual effects. But I'm glad we got HD remasters of the main trailers, would've been also cool to see the new years teaser remastered too as I've only seen really blocky versions of it online. speaking of anyone have any of these or know where to find any? Cuz ever since youtube started getting rid of more copyrighted stuff in the late 2000's it's been hard to find the Caiman special in full.

Also anyone glad they finally changed the cover for this release as this was the poster I use to see at my theaters when it was out.