Godzilla: King of the Monsters - General Discussion

[Godzilla21]

Man, you're damn right the Gamera trilogy would make this meter go off the charts

Ha. I knew you didn't really think the Gamera Heisei trilogy sucked

[donaldino]

Immediately after viewing this at the theatre, I liked it even more than Godzilla (2014). Now after multiple viewings I've become more critical of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. My main gripe is that some of the characters say dumb and cheesy things. Also, the monster fights don't last very long and could be a lot more epic. One thing I really do like about it is the design of King Geedorah, how he looks and moves. When he awakens then toys with and torments the fallen armed guard was a good way to show his evil nature. My favourite part is when Rodan awakens, creates the wind storm inside the Mexican city, and when he skillfully destroys the jets. When he encounters and briefly fights Geedorah was poorly done, and the main characters beings saved right after this by Godzilla at the last second was way too convenient. My favourite character is Rick Stanton because he's funny. I read online someone critiquing how the fights all happen in darkened areas with little or no tall buildings or landmarks to show off their massive sizes, and I have to agree this detracts from the movie.

Added in 24 minutes 51 seconds:
Another thing I enjoyed was seeing Godzilla go nuclear. Another thing I didn't like was how they recycled the Oxygen Destroyer and made it look useless. Also, I had an idea for the ending that I think would have been an improvement to the one we got! When Godzilla stomps through King Geedorah's chest and electricity comes out then there's a huge flash and it looks like both monsters are gone, I at first thought it was Geedorah resorting to a survival-mechanism that teleports him off the planet to a different one to recover, and since Godzilla was making contact with Geedorah, he was also teleported onto some other planet separate from Geedorah. This way we could have seen a much more sci-fi styled Godzilla movie at some point explaining where he went!

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

I never really thought about it but outside of say the Golden Gate Bridge there is a severe lack of recognizable landmarks in these films isn't there.

[BlankAccount]

I never really thought about it but outside of say the Golden Gate Bridge there is a severe lack of recognizable landmarks in these films isn't there.

And being destroyed too. We do see the Transamerica Pyramid during the halo jump in 2014.

[donaldino]

I find it funny how Sam and Mark start off on the wrong foot and Mark seems to hate the guy. It's somewhat awkward and random too! When Serizawa forgets to say Mark's family being captured is a priority, Mark instead directs his anger towards Sam. Then when Mark desperately needs directions and Sam offers to help it seems like Mark doesn't trust him or his quip was to show his contempt for him.

[Spuro]

I never really thought about it but outside of say the Golden Gate Bridge there is a severe lack of recognizable landmarks in these films isn't there.

And being destroyed too. We do see the Transamerica Pyramid during the halo jump in 2014.

I have a hunch that you can thank 9/11 for that...

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Eh I doubt that's the case anymore. Bay and Emmerich have ridiculous over the top destruction and their films usually do fine. Then there's also Cloverfield.

[donaldino]

I believe if Warner Bros. and Legendary worked harder to make one or two more MonsterVerse movies between 2014 and 2021, then the overall revenue made would be much higher. They instead tried to build anticipation by spacing these films at least 2 years apart. I think this did the opposite and dampened excitement for a lot of casual fans of kaiju movies. There was way too much time between Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). I would have loved to see one Godzilla-focused MonsterVerse movie a year, two years at most, since beginning in 2014.

[UltramanGoji]

I believe if Warner Bros. and Legendary worked harder to make one or two more MonsterVerse movies between 2014 and 2021, then the overall revenue made would be much higher. They instead tried to build anticipation by spacing these films at least 2 years apart. I think this did the opposite and dampened excitement for a lot of casual fans of kaiju movies. There was way too much time between Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). I would have loved to see one Godzilla-focused MonsterVerse movie a year, two years at most, since beginning in 2014.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't something WB/Legendary had any control over.

[donaldino]

Whose decision was it? I thought they have full creative control, except needing permission from Toho to use monsters from their gallery besides Godzilla.

[UltramanGoji]

Whose decision was it? I thought they have full creative control, except needing permission from Toho to use monsters from their gallery besides Godzilla.

Well, for starters: Legendary does not have complete creative control. They are beholden to the whims and jurisdictions of Toho as to what they can do with the characters. For example, it's a Toho mandate that Godzilla cannot die or be killed in this series.

Legendary does not just "need permission" from Toho to use their characters, either. They have to purchase the adaptation rights to the characters individually for Toho. For a hypothetical example, Legendary would need to pay $1 million each for the rights to Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. This is also why most of the other monsters in KOTM are original creations as it would be too expensive to purchase the rights for other Toho monsters to use in minuscule scenes.

Finally, to answer the initial question, the decision was likely a joint venture between Legendary and Toho in the form of the contractual agreements made in or around 2012, before G14 began production. Legendary has likely signed a three film contract with Toho, meaning they can't just chug out a MonsterVerse movie every single year. We also know from talks with Shin Godzilla co-director Shinji Higuchi at G-FEST 2017 that Toho cannot make live-action films at the same time as Legendary. Shin Godzilla was the exception due to the fact that KOTM's release was delayed, with Higuchi saying that had KOTM come out on its original release date (2018), they would've still been working on Shin well into 2017.

The idea to produce yearly Godzilla movies is historically proven to be a far bigger detriment than anything. Constant yearly releases were what happened with the Heisei and Millennium films and towards the end of their runs, they were tanking at the box office. If you put out constant releases, it stagnates the brand and numbs audiences to it. Sure, fans would love it but the main moneymakers (non-fans) would quickly lose interest.

The problem with KOTM wasn't because it was made too late, it was a combination of a poor marketing timeline, a crowded summer slate, and just generally not being a good enough film to draw people in.

[donaldino]

Makes sense. I still believe if they released one more Godzilla MonsterVerse movie between 2014 and 2019 they would have a more consistent box office return. I think releasing the sequel 5 years after the first definitely had a negative effect on KotM's earnings, also, like you said: poor marketing and a crowded slate. Maybe reviews had an influence too. Speaking of reviews, the reason I think King of the Monsters is inferior to Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island is because it strayed too far from G14's serious tone and the direction they took was a combination of G14 and more primarily Kong.

[BlankAccount]

I never really thought about it but outside of say the Golden Gate Bridge there is a severe lack of recognizable landmarks in these films isn't there.

And being destroyed too. We do see the Transamerica Pyramid during the halo jump in 2014.

I have a hunch that you can thank 9/11 for that...

I do too, but at the same time we've had films destroy famous landmarks before 2014 and after 9/11. I think enough time has passed and if you ask a non-G fan what Godzilla does the answer is either gonna be destroys cities, destroys armies or fights other monsters. One of the biggest setbacks IMO about G2014 is the ads promise cities devastated. While there was destruction, I wouldn't exactly call it city wide mayhem. It doesn't need to be world destroying levels of a threat, just a threat big enough to threaten a city.

When people go in seeing a Godzilla movie, they go expecting to see entire city blocks in ruins or on fire and tanks melting like plastic army men. I think the other part might be budget and where they decide to invest most of it too.

Added in 4 minutes 38 seconds:

Makes sense. I still believe if they released one more Godzilla MonsterVerse movie between 2014 and 2019 they would have a more consistent box office return. I think releasing the sequel 5 years after the first definitely had a negative effect on KotM's earnings, also, like you said: poor marketing and a crowded slate. Maybe reviews had an influence too. Speaking of reviews, the reason I think King of the Monsters is inferior to Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island is because it strayed too far from G14's serious tone and the direction they took was a combination of G14 and more primarily Kong.

There was so much going against KOTM that it's amazing it did as well as it did. It could have been so much worse. I think the most baffling, sabotage themselves decision they made was moving it up a month so instead of competing with Captain Marvel it competed with Endgame. Yes both are Marvel movies but one is considered part 2 of THE Marvel movie.

Like damn, people do underestimate Godzilla's appeal but here they overestimated, they got too cocky. It's not 1998 pre-GINO where movies moved their dates out of fear of competing with Godzilla.

[Desghidorah]

In the end, I had a blast at the theater and got to see plenty of people entertained by it. For that, movie did it's job giving me a fun sci-fi story with some good acting and great looking SFX brawls. I had fun, and that to me, if what a movie is most often for.

[gottatalktothefake]

In the end, I had a blast at the theater and got to see plenty of people entertained by it. For that, movie did it's job giving me a fun sci-fi story with some good acting and great looking SFX brawls. I had fun, and that to me, if what a movie is most often for.

Same, my family, friends and I loved it, and that’s what matters most for me.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

King of The Monsters holds the same place as The Lost World: Jurassic Park for me.

Is it a perfect sequel? No.
Does it have flaws? Of course.
Does it keep enough of what I loved about the original while changing the tone in a natural way as well as giving me basically everything I wanted since I was a kid?

Yes. Yes it does.

Personally, I think the film gets WAY too much crap. Like, it's just a high-mid tier film in the franchise but y'all act like it's somehow the biggest thing to ever happen in the franchise either. Like, I can see Rise of Skywalker (the last film in a 44 year old series) or Man of Steel (the first film featuring the character in a decade) having this reaction but King of the Monsters is neither of those things.

IDK, I think it gets put on a pedestal for no reason and that's why people are always rushing to tear it down/build it up. If we all accepted it's just a decent movie in the franchise, I wouldn't only step into the cesspit the Monsterverse fourms have become three times a month.

[gottatalktothefake]

“If we all accepted the same opinion that happens to be mine than things would be better”

I loved your post up until that point, maybe people actually think different things and what you believe isn’t factual?

[Monke]

I really would’ve liked to see more civilian destruction. It allows the viewer to get so much more invested into a scene and place themselves in the situation. I would say Rodan’s sequence is the best in the film simply due to the stakes of a populated area attempting to evacuate. I really hope in GvK that the fights aren’t in an empty playground like Boston. Just imagine if King Ghidorah landed in Fenway Park during a baseball game and the chaos that would ensue.

[Moogabunga]

Just imagine if King Ghidorah landed in Fenway Park during a baseball game and the chaos that would ensue.

That would've been sweet

[EvaGhidorah01]

I really would’ve liked to see more civilian destruction. It allows the viewer to get so much more invested into a scene and place themselves in the situation. I would say Rodan’s sequence is the best in the film simply due to the stakes of a populated area attempting to evacuate. I really hope in GvK that the fights aren’t in an empty playground like Boston. Just imagine if King Ghidorah landed in Fenway Park during a baseball game and the chaos that would ensue.

I've never given this much thought before so this may come off as random or incoherent ramblings but...

In retrospect, maybe the lack of any civilians in populated areas during the battles, and/or only getting Monarch's perspective on the story made this disaster flick on a gargantuan scale feel more emotionally and personally self-contained. By no means is that at all a bad thing for the film - I actually think it's for the better - however, it just sacrifices some weight from the movie's scale. Losing an essence of liveliness

Pretentious ramblings aside, I would like to see some city destruction in GVK, since it was something that the Monsterverse hasn't quite satisfied my knack for city destruction.