Godzilla movie storyline. Following the French atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific, an unknown creature is spotted passing eastward through the Panama Canal. Scientist Niko Tatopolous is called in to investigate the matter, and he quickly arrives at the conclusion that a giant, irradiated lizard has been created by the explosions. Godzilla then makes its way north, landing at Manhattan to begin wreaking havoc in the big city. Even with the combined forces of the U.S. military to fight the monster, will it be enough to save the people of New York?
Godzilla is a 1998 American monster film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich that is a reimagining of Toho’s Godzilla franchise. It is the 23rd film in the Godzilla franchise and the first Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio.[Note 1] It stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Arabella Field, Michael Lerner, and Harry Shearer.
The film was a co-production between Centropolis Entertainment, Fried Films, Independent Pictures, and TriStar Pictures, with TriStar distributing theatrically, and Sony Pictures Entertainment for home media. It also marks the only time that producer Devlin and director Emmerich worked on an intellectual property (IP) they did not own. The film is dedicated to the memory of Godzilla franchise producer and creator Tomoyuki Tanaka, who died during the film’s production.
The film was released on May 20, 1998, grossing $136 million domestically and $379 million worldwide, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of 1998 domestically and third highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide. Despite turning in a profit, it was considered “Average Performer” at the box office. The film swept the Golden Raspberry Awards in 1999, with two “wins” for Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Supporting Actress and was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Planned sequels were abandoned and an animated series was produced instead.
Production began in May 1997, in New York City, and moved to Los Angeles in June. Scenes in New York were filmed in 13 days; tropical scenes were filmed in the Hawaiian Islands. The United States Marine Corps participated in the filming of the movie. An actual Marines Reserve pilot, Col. Dwight Schmidt, was the pilot of the plane that “fired” the missiles that killed Godzilla.
Godzila (1998)
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, Harry Shearer, Pat Mastroianni, Ali Afshar, Nathan Anderson
Screenplay by: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Production Design by: Oliver Scholl
Cinematography by: Ueli Steiger
Film Editing by: Peter Amundson, David Siegel
Costume Design by: Joseph A. Porro
Set Decoration by: Victor J. Zolfo
Art Direction by: William Ladd Skinner, Robert Woodruff
Music by: David Arnold, Michael Lloyd
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi monster action / violence.
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: May 20, 1998
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