Background and Trivia |
- Toho submitted the film to the US copyright office on December 8th, 1986 with the registration number of PA0000317013. The movie was submitted with the Romaji title of Kaiju Daisenso and the international title, Invasion of Astro-Monster. At a later date, on April 29th, 1991, Toho submitted a supplement, registration number PA0000535811, that added two additional titles to the copyright claim: Monster Zero and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero.
- Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya won five technical achievement awards from the Japan Movie Association during his career. One was for his combined work on Invasion of Astro-Monster and The Retreat from Kiska (1965). Noted in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- In regards to the stock footage used in Invasion of Astro-Monster, and its subsequent use at Toho, Ishiro Honda lamented in an interview that "it was a vicious cycle of time and budget." He went on to note that if they "recycled scenes from previous movies, we could cut the effects budget. But then we received complaints from our fans saying, 'it looks weird, it's not fresh.' We could fool the audience for a little while but eventually they would know the trick and stop coming to see the shows" and noted that it was a "sad story". Mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- Writer Shinichi Sekizawa has noted that his work on the film was the last time he felt truly passionate about the genre. Despite later requests to be re-assigned to other types of movies, Toho kept having him work on and write other entries in the kaiju genre. In fact, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka requested his services as late as 1990, although the writer was finally able to decline the request due to health conditions. Referenced in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Although the opening title card says 196X, New Godzilla Walker - The New Legend of the King of the Monsters (ISBN: 9784048956321) claims the events in the movie actually take place in 1965.
- Director Akira Kurosawa would often tease director Ishiro Honda over the evacuation scenes in his films, such as the ones in Invasion of Astro-Monster where policeman are directing the fleeing crowds. Kurosawa would state that in real life the policemen would be the first to evacuate, but Honda was too good natured for this. Mentioned in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Toho re-released the film in 1971 as part of the Toho Champion Festival. The version released was edited down and retitled. The new title was "Great Monster War: King Ghidorah vs. Godzilla" (怪獣大戦争: ゴジラ対キングギドラ - Kaiju Daisenso: Gojira tai Kingu Gidora).
- In May 1965, Vanity was the first to report that Henry G. Saperstein of United Productions of America had entered in a deal with Toho to co-produce five films. This included three monster movies, a war movie and a spy thriller. It was also stated to include a television show, shot in Japan but would air on U.S. stations. One of those monster movies ended up being Invasion of Astro-Monster.
- Henry G. Saperstein of United Productions of America stated that he provided 50% of the funding for Invasion of Astro-Monster, Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) and The War of the Gargantuas (1966). Cited in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- Variety reported in June of 1966 that Henry G. Saperstein had wrapped post production on Invasion of Astro-Monster for a US release as "Invasion of the Astros". It then stated he was "currently negotiating a distribution deal". However, the movie would not be released until 1970. Rather then distributed through AIP, as was done with Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) and Key of Keys (1965), it was released by Maron Films with the title "Monster Zero" as a double bill with The War of the Gargantuas (1966). Noted in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- When promoting the US release of the movie, Maron Films did not highlight that American actor Nick Adams was in the film. By the 1970 release, Adams, who passed away in 1968 from a drug overdose, had been deceased for a couple of years. While it's possible this contributed, it should be noted that Russ Tamblyn, who appeared in The War of the Gargantuas (1966) on the double bill, was also not highlighted.
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