Background and Trivia |
- Toho submitted the film to the US copyright office on February 20th, 1996 with the registration number of PA0000796965. The movie was submitted under its international title, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, and its literal title, Godzilla vs. Destroyer.
- This is the seventh and final film in the Heisei Godzilla series, which ran for a total of 11 years, starting with The Return of Godzilla in 1984.
- The movie's first teaser was attached to the end of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), which saw a theatrical release on December 10th, 1994. While it never revealed the identity of Godzilla's next opponent, at the time the "unknown enemy" mentioned in the teaser was actually meant to be Ghost Godzilla. Storyboard sketches for the teaser and its details can be found in the pages of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah Perfection (ISBN 4798615811).
- On July 15th, 1995, producer Shogo Tomiyama announced that the Godzilla series was coming to an end. The given reason was that, after 21 movies, "Toho had run out of ideas" and, telling Reuters, Tomiyama explained that "that's why we wanted to put an end to the series. We wanted to finish with Godzilla while he is still a star."
- The climax between Burning Godzilla and Destoroyah was originally going to take place at Tokyo's, still being developed, World City. However, the project, projected at costing $2.35 billion, was very unpopular with tax payers and ultimately they announced its cancellation in May of 1995. Special effects director Koichi Kawakita made a major, last minute pivot as a result, using the grounds were it would have been built for the battle but mostly having it take place near Haneda Airport. Mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- In response to Godzilla's death, according to the London Daily Telegraph, Toho received more than 10,000 protest letters. Hiroshi Ono, a Toho spokesperson, told the Telegraph "we had to kill him. We're planning to come up with a monster better suited to the 21st century… but his death does seem to have upset a lot of people." In regards to Ono's claim of coming up with a monster better suited for the new century, it was possible he was referring to Mothra, and the upcoming Rebirth of Mothra (1996) film and sequels, as little known evidence supports that Toho seriously considered coming up with a new headlining monster.
- Akira Ifukube originally intended for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) to be the final movie that he scored. In fact, he even turned down scoring the 1994 entry, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. However, when learning of the concept for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) and how it tied into Godzilla (1954) with the Oxygen Destroyer, that retirement was short lived. Feeling the movie should have music that evoked the original movie, Ifukube was approached personally by Tomoyuki Tanaka about accepting the assignment. Noting how much of the original crew had passed on, such as Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya, Tanaka’s appeal was special as he also worked on the original with Ifukube. Finally, Ifukube also evoked the long history with Tanaka, going all the way back to Snow Trial (1947) and the producer taking a chance on an unproven composer such as himself in terms of why he accepted the Godzilla vs. Destoroyah assignment.
Ifukube considered using the same theme from the King of the Monsters’ death sequence in Godzilla (1954) in this film. However, he realized the sentiment behind the two scenes was very different. In the 1954 movie, this is a resolution of a tragedy, while Godzilla’s death in the 1995 movie was “more pessimistic”. These background details can be found in 1999's G-FAN #41.
- In a CNN news report from December 1st, 1995, actress Momoko Koichi, who appeared in the original Godzilla (1954), notes that "after the first Godzilla movie people pointed at me, saying: 'Godzilla, Godzilla.' As a young woman I hated Godzilla, so I thought, 'no more Godzilla for me.' But 41 years later I watched the film again and realized how great it was for its anti-nuclear theme.'
- On December 5th, 1995, a few days before the movie opened, a one meter tall bronze memorial state of Godzilla was erected near the Hibiya cinema district. A ceremony was held with actors Akira Takarada and Yasuko Sawaguchi, from The Return of Godzilla (1984) and Yamato Takeru (1994). Relating the event to the Mainichi Daily News, a Toho spokesperson stated that Godzilla's death was not definitely permanent, but it was unknown when it might return. "Even if we call him back to life, it won't be before the turn of the century." This statement ended up being incorrect, as the next Toho Godzilla movie would be released before the turn of the century, Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999), although it was touted as being part of the new century.
|
|
|
