The original plan, after 1995, was to keep the Japanese Godzilla dormant until 2005. The response to G98 fast tracked a new series, which Shogo Tomiyama described in 1999 as "a trilogy, in a different world, unconnected to the previous films." He did note that "the direction of the second and third films... will hinge on the results of (Godzilla 2000)." [Quoted from G-Fan 40, July/August 1999, originally "a transcript of a Japanese talkshow... with additional translation by August Ragone."] That's a pretty vague statement that does make it sound like had G2K been a major hit they would have continued with that direction, but I also think this quote lacks context to back that up. Later in the same segment, Tomiyama addressed a question about other monsters in the proposed second and third films by saying, "Nothing like that has been decided upon as yet. We are making Godzilla Millennium to stand on its own merits."Gojirawars 03 wrote:I had believed that the plan was to give Godzilla a long rest, but then bring the series back with the series following Junior, but I'm not sure.Terasawa wrote:There was never any plan to continue the VS series. Well, except GFW: the original draft allegedly served as a continuation from the '90s films. But that was years after the series was started.
More relevant quotes from the same source:
Q: Why was the film not conceived as the sequel to Godzilla vs. Destroyah(sic)?
Tomiyama: I did not consider it at all for this project. Destroyah is a story set in a world that differs entirely (from Godzilla Millennium).
Q: Wasn't Godzilla vs. Destroyah supposed to be the last Japanese Godzilla film of the 20th Century?
Tomiyama: That's correct. The decision to proceed with production of Godzilla Millennium was made abruptly. Actually, we had no plans for another Godzilla movie until the year 2005. (The change of heart) came about, I will admit, because now TriStar's Godzilla is Godzilla. We had a feeling that after seeing TriStar's film, we couldn't keep (the Japanese Godzilla) silent until 2005.
G-Fan's coverage of the production of GXM was largely overshadowed by the U.S. release of Godzilla 2000, but I remember GMK was covered pretty extensively once it was announced. Unfortunately, I've lost a lot of issues from that 2001-2002 period. I do recall that a Toho executive (above Shogo Tomiyama) expressed doubts at continuing the Godzilla series after GXM failed to make an impression at the box office in 2000/2001, and that if the then-in-pre-production GMK had similarly failed that would have been the end of the Godzilla series for the time being.