Japan Release: 1968
Running Time: 89 minutes

Destroy All Monsters

怪獣総進撃
[Kaiju Soshingeki]

In 1999, many of Earth's monsters are being kept on Monsterland on Ogasawara Island. Through checks, the monsters are imprisoned in an ecological preserve that allows scientists to study them. The peace is short lived, as the base is attacked by an alien race called the Kilaakian. Controlling the humans and monsters from the isle, they send the creatures on a global attack. The crew of the spaceship Moonlight SY-3 flies to Earth to investigate. They learn of the aliens, their plan to control the Earth and that they are behind the attacks. The Moonlight SY-3 crew begins to research how the Kilaaks mind control works, while the aliens concentrate their attacks on Japan in retaliation with Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and Manda sent to attack Tokyo...

Live Action Science Fiction KaijuGodzilla

Titles

Destroy All Monsters

Destroy All Monsters
US Distributor: AIP (1969) / Time: 86 Minutes

Charge of the Monsters
[Literal Translation]

Frankenstein and the Monster from Space
[German Title]

Monsters

Aliens, SDF & Misc.

Staff

Cast

Posters

Box Office

Toho Stock Footage

DVDs and Blu-rays

CD Soundtracks

Background and Trivia

• AIP (American International Pictures, Inc.) submitted the movie to the US copyright office on May 20th, 1982 under the registration number V1908P198. It used the title Destroy All Monsters and was done in a huge batch that contained 376 other films. On February 13th, 1989, a new registration was submitted by Orion Pictures, noted as the legal successor to AIP, and Toho using the registration number V2438P072. By August 22nd, 1996, Toho appeared to have sole ownership of the US rights, as they submitted it under the registration number PA0000785448 while using the titles Destroy All Monsters and Kaijusoshingeki with no spaces in the Romaji title.
• Was re-released in 1972 in Japanese theaters as part of the Toho Champion Festival under the very different title "Godzilla: The Grand Blitz Operation" (ゴジラ電撃大作戦 - Gojira Dengeki Dai Sakusen). The movie played as a triple bill with the films Daigoro vs. Goliath (1972) and Panda! Go Panda! (1972).
• Special effects director Sadamasa Arikawa recalled that at the time of planning the 1968 movie it was originally going to end the Godzilla series. He noted that "producer [Tomoyuki Tanaka] figured that all the ideas had run out." Naturally this was not the case, as the movie was followed the very next year by All Monsters Attack (1969). Mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
• Director Ishiro Honda was fascinated by the concept of a "monster farm", in particular the idea of how humanity could feed them. He noted that a "huge amount of protein" would be needed and envisioned cloning along with undersea farming to accomplish this. However, despite the director's fascination with this concept, the final movie devotes very little time to it outside of the brief introduction to Monsterland and showing Rodan feasting on a dolphin. The director laments that of the original complex idea only the basic "idea of [a] Monster Island survived." Noted in Age of the Gods (self-published), while The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla (self-published) cites it was budgetary reasons that it wasn't focused on more in the movie.

Concept Art

Cut Scenes

Godzilla vs. Manda

While rampaging through Tokyo, the monsters Godzilla and Manda come across each other. The hissing viper-like kaiju snaps at the towering behemoth, as its coiled mass was wrapped around one of the remaining skyscrapers. In response, Godzilla reaches out with his clawed hands, grasping Manda's head. The King of the Monsters then yanks the fanged serpent from its support, taking the building with him.

Background:
Supposedly improvised by suit actor Haruo Nakajima. The suit actor had improvised on other projects before, which sometimes resulted in new scenes such as when Godzilla shakes off the dirt from his body in Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). This was not one of those cases.

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