Japan's "Grissom Gang" to hold theatrical screening of "Godzilla: Tokyo SOS"

The Kiryu Saga seems to be getting lots of attention lately. A new blu-ray display utilizes the suit pre-scar and a Kirin beer company advertisement campaign is using the 2002 duo of Hideki Matsui and Godzilla. Now, in time for Nov.'s many activities mostly centered around Koichi Kawakita, the "Grissom Gang" is holding Japan's second screening of "Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS" this year (the other was durring the premier of "Raiga"). So if you are in Japan, don't miss the chance to see this awesome tribute to the Showa series!

Link:

http://movie007.hp.infoseek.co.jp/schedule0911.htm#abayo (scroll down the page)

BTW, it is too late, the film has already been shown for the two days it was alloted. It was shown over the weekend. But go to the link and see a theatre exclusive calendar given to those with some extra pocket change. Made courtesy of toy maker http://cast-web.net/

New Blu-Ray Stand Sighting

Looks like Toho has set up another awesome stand, this time utilizing the Kiryu-Goji suit (2002 varriation w/o scar). This is not in Tokyo, but rather Takasaki which is in the Gunma Prefecture. Take a look!

Advertisement like this can only mean one of two things: the Blu-Rays are going good or Toho needs the extra publicity. Or maybe the last two films of the Kiryu saga will be comming soon to blu-ray? (I say last two since they have already released some films which are in the Kiryu Saga continuity - Gojira, Mothra, and Rodan) Either way, this is the third Godzilla-related happening this month, along with the Kirin's advertisements for their new canned coffee, "Fire", and the celebration of Koichi Kawakita's new book and his 20th anniversary becoming the SFX director of the Heisei Godzilla series. And just for comparison, the one in Akihabara:

Koichi Kawakita's New Book: "Heisei Godzilla Chronicle"

Turns out I may have found the reason for the Heisei film festival that will be going on this November - it is coinciding for a new book Koichi Kawakita has written/assembled on his work on the Heisei Godzilla series. It is aprox. $50 and is comming out this month on the 17th. Contains 272 pages of information! Now time for some pics:

Links From The Kiryu Saga

In case if anyone is interested, I have currently found some links to some interesting material on some Japanese sites which deals with exhibits and other stuff that relates to the final two films of the Kiryu Saga, "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" and "Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS". The first is of the exhibit which opened durring GXMG. While I do not remember the exhibit's name, one of the features of the exhibit I do remember is that there is a part which you could see how much of "GXMG"'s science is real.

http://www.higashi-nagasaki.com/z/gz_e030106.html

The second and third links pertain to the second film, "Godzilla: Tokyo SOS". The first is something simular to what people have seen with Toho's in-store advertisement Akihabara.

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/guccya-strange/machi/hmv/hmv.htm

The third linksis of a press/public event held back on Nov. 26, 2003. Toho usualy holds these kinds of events for publicity.

http://homepage2.nifty.com/HIRAO/tobu-ws.htm

Better save those rare images onto your hard drive!

Godzilla/Kawakita Film Festival This Nov. In Japan

The second half of 2009 belongs to one person: Koichi Kawakita. And I am not surprised. He has his own SFX company, he was and probably is still one of the largest stock holders with Toho, and he is now becoming very active with Godzilla again, which hasn’t happened in such a way since he directed the siutmation footage in the CT-R Godzilla game. Currently, DeAgonstini is publishing a magazine which by this time next year will cover the entire Godzilla series plus some other Toho SFX films. Luckily, Koichi Kawakita is writing some of the text for these magazines, which is something awesome since he has been involved with Godzilla since 1962’s "King Kong vs. Godzilla".

Kawakita is also being honored in a way with the Heisei series - a series 6/7 his (SFX wise) - being released on blu-ray. Not only is it the 10th anniversary of which Kawakita became the next "Tsuburaya" or "Nakano" for Godzilla, but the first two movies he worked on ("Godzilla vs. Biollante" and the award winning "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah") are released this year on blu-ray. While only the 1991 film got a new special feature, it also marks the eternal preservation of the special features which have been passed down from the DVD format which got it from the 3 disc LD sets which were made possible by Kawakita and are rightfully Kawakita’s babies.

All of this good stuff for Kawakita and the Heisei Godzilla series sounds too good to be true. But it is not and there is more. If you are dropping off in Japan in the next month, you would be wise to go by a film festival celebrating Kawakita’s work on the Godzilla series hosted by the Humax Cinema. The films will be the ones Kawakita was the director of special effects for, "Godzilla vs. Biollante", "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah", "Godzilla vs. Mothra", "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla", "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla", and the dramatic "Godzilla vs. Destroyer". The first image above is actually a scan of the back of the chirashi for the event. Here is a list of dates and times for the event:

11/13(Fri) - 15 (Sun) "Godzilla VS Biollante"
11/14(Sat) - Talk with Koichi Kawakita and actor Koichi Ueda
11/16 (Mon) to 18 (Wednesday) "Godzilla VS King Ghidorah"
11/19 (Thu) to 21 (Sat.) "Godzilla VS Mothra"
11/22 (Sun) to 24 (Tue) "Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla"
11/25 (Wed) - 27 (Fri) "Godzilla VS Space Godzilla"
11/28 (Sat) - 30 (Mon) "Godzilla VS Destoroyah"

The Humax Theatre is located in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan. Ticket price to each day’s event will be around $13 (1,300 yen). Though not said yet, more activities are being planed for the 21st and 28th. More information can be found on the official web site whose link is below:

http://www.humax-cinema.co.jp/cinema/special/gozzira.html

NOTE: THE PARAGRAPHS BEING SO CLOSE TOGEATHER IS BLOGGER'S FAULT, NOT MINE.

Godzilla's Latest Venture in Japan's Economy

Product placement and Godzilla go together like green eggs and ham. Most notably, Godzilla has been used to advertise drinks. He is known in the US to have helped the Dr. Pepper company make some dough in 1985 when the King of the Monsters was featured in accouple of commercials by the Dr. Pepper company and when the US version of "The Return of Godzilla", aptly titled "Godzilla 1985" had most of it’s American scenes having something Dr. Pepper-related in it - from a military smart ass drinking it to the Pentagon having a Dr. Pepper vending machine. But now Godzilla is entering a new age with a new company asking for his pop-culture status as help. Guess who?

It was a company shown in "Gamera: Giant Monster Midair Showdown" and "Gamera 2: Advent of Legion", with the latter being used to more extent. The company is also based on a Yokai-esque entity which was a focal point in the latest remake of "The Great Yokai War". Give up? It’s Japan’s own Kirin beer company. Evidently they have made a new coffee beverage called "fire". But Godzilla is not alone.

Also helping to add star value to the mostly viral advertisement campaign is a person who has been nick-named Godzilla since he came over for a little while to play for the Yankees (and I own the New York Times issue which calls him this; thanks to my grandfather in NY): Hideki Matsui. Many fans know that when he came over here, he was nicknamed "Godzilla" for his Japanese nationality and his skill. Hideki would also gain popularity when he makes a came in the 2002 film, "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla". In something most probably more than coincidence, the Godzilla suit used for the campaign is in fact the Kiryu-Goji suit (variation unknown).

At the link below, you can easily navigate through the main Kirin beer website to find good of all sorts. There is a commercial, a making of the commercial, and a message from Hideki himself. Also of interest are some exclusive screen savers, which the picture at the top shows what it looks like on my laptop. Better save them onto your hard drive before they are gone!

http://www.beverage.co.jp/fire/index.html

Special Thanks Goes To James Ballard for notifying me that "Fire" is an energy drink...

Japanese Godzilla Websites

America has the likes of SciFiJapan, Tohokingdom, and kaijuphile.com. But has anyone tried looking for Japan's alternatives that aren't part of an official Toho Site? Well, after taking some information from Japanese fan Akira01Sum, I have found the top three links which people will be interested in:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/g-kingdom/index.htm
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/gozida/
http://sakura.canvas.ne.jp/spr/kingodzi/kingodzi.html

Here are some others that might be of some more interest...

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Hollywood/7634/
http://www.geocities.jp/tohogozila/
http://ww5.enjoy.ne.jp/~moririn/
http://www.synapse.ne.jp/komurano/mos/
http://goziori.jog.buttobi.net/index.html
http://www.geocities.jp/k_ghidorah/
http://homepage.mac.com/s.nishikawa/kaiju-land/
http://www.mashroom.com/

Which, BTW, incase if anyone wants a map to the site which Akira01Sum mentioned to in the interview I did with him, http://www.godzillamovies.org/index. When you go onto the page, there is a pull down list. Here is every link in that pull down page;

LINK 1 - DEAD
LINK 2 - UPDATES
LINK 3 - FILMS
LINK 4 - KAIJU PROFILES
LINK 5 - OTHER TOHO KAIJU/SCI-FI FILMS
LINK 6 - ACTRESS PROFILES/TOHO BEAUTIES
LINK 7 - FAN FICTION
LINK 8 - TOY LIST
LINK 9 - BLOG
LINK 10 - BLOG
LINK 11 - GFW BLOG
LINK 12 - LINKS

Not the most updated or the best, but good.

A Theory On The Legendary Pictures "Godzilla" Project

Ever since August, news on the Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla project has been surmounting - though it has often been discredited. Some rumors which have come up are things such as Michael Daugherty being the new director, New Zealand-based Weta Studios already getting word as being the place to do the project’s CGI, and even that official word on the project will be released before the end of the year. Most of these rumors have already been squashed. However, something which is interesting is that all of these rumors are around either who is directing or when the film is going to be released - no major rumor started on content?

In search for what may be coming for “Godzilla” content wise, I looked at Legendary Pictures’ repertoire. Five of the already fourteen films produced by Legendary have been based on a comic book of some format. And needless to say, it is these five films which have been the most successful for the company. This is including “Watchmen”, “300”, and “The Dark Knight”. In response to using comic book stories for films, it is possible that Legendary Pictures is going to go for a film adaptation of either the Marvel or Dark Horse comic book series, with the latter being a more likely choice?

Well, why not do Dark Horse’s Godzilla series? It is - based on what I have heard - a pretty good series which captures the darkness that the best Godzilla films capture. This is especially true since an adaptation of “The Return of Godzilla” (1984) (dubbed “Godzilla” and then re-released as “Terror of Godzilla“) was produced. Even Toho admired the work from Dark Horse, with one of the comic’s covers featuring blood dripping from an emerging Godzilla’s mouth appearing on a draft of “Godzilla vs. Destroyer” (1995). Not to mention that already Legendary has made a film on a Dark Horse property, “300”.

Another advantage would be that the people who worked on the Dark Horse series most probably live in America still. Bob Eggleton did some covers. Keith Aiken is near Legendary Pictures’ headquarters in California. Practically, if they needed information on the Dark Horse series, the resources are there. Confirmation would still need to come from Toho since I bet they are still weary from “wolves in sheep’s clothing” success of “Godzilla” (1998). Though I would not worry that much about that since Dark Horse’s series was generally accepted by the fans.

Bottom line, Legendary Picture’s most successful theatrical films are from comic books/graphic novels. While it has been said that it is most possibly going to be a re-boot (or any other terminology which has the “re” prefix present), I would not rule out this possibility. After all which I have presented, I think it is possible unless someone who has connections wants deny it (please do if so). Looks like we will never know until more information from officials come out.

NOTE: All information regarding the Legendary Pictures Godzilla project is just speculation and is not intended to be taken seriously. The image above is a fan poster for the project by Evan Brehany. It was originally the cover of the Dark Horse comic “Godzilla: Age of Monsters”. Artwork is of copyright of Bob Eggleton/Toho/Dark Horse.

Godzilla Wins Halloween Award On Yahoo!

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/collections/gallery/2156/halloween-gallery/fp#photo5

Halloween is a season for slashers, bashers and Universal masters of horror. But Yahoo istead came up with awards for everything that could be associated with Halloween. Some things are the same as every year: Michael Myers is still the ultimate slasher and Freddy Krueger is still the ultimate super-natural boogey man. But one thing is slightly the same: Godzilla is still the King of the Monsters. However, the runner up is not the legendary King Kong or the Rhedosaurus. It is instead the Cloverfield monster that is the runner up. King Kong's days are finaly numbered. The only think keeping the big ape in the public's eyes is the city of New York City, what pop culture refrences come our way through television shows, and the upcoming "King of Skull Island" film. Let's hope that Clover can keep up this kind of dominance over other kaiju. Maybe show JJ Abrams that we need another film?

Happy Halloween to all from JournalismG2KM and us of the Kaiju Galaxy Family!

Book Alert: "Japan: A Primary Source Cultural Guide" by Meg Greene

You would think that in this time of endless information due to the invention that is the internet that inaccuracies would not be made. While I cannot say I haven’t made them myself, I would expect someone who is a professional to not makes those errors, especially with books which are used by schools. Out of the umpteen books which my school has which surround the topic of the history/culture of Japan, one of them stood out to me. Most notably because it was the only book to have information on kaiju eiga and Kurosawa. But I am going to focus on kaiju eiga here. While it is fine and dandy for there to be a paragraph on kaiju, it is not ok if there is an inaccuracy on something which has been - up to the book’s publishing year of 2005 - published many times.

The first offense was the classifying of a still from "Godzilla Raids Again" as a still from the 1954 classic "Gojira". What is even worse, then it comes to the book’s image index in the back of the book, it differs from the image’s subtitle and claims that the picture is from 1955. So if someone who did not know about kaiju eiga was to read this book thoroughly, they would be confused by the different dates which were provided and given the wrong information. The second offense is the calling of "Gorgo" as a Japanese kaiju - instead of the proper classification of a British kaiju film.

Bottom line, you who still go to school and may within the rest of your school years become assigned to do a report on Japan, do not used the book "Japan: A Primary Source Culture Guide" by Meg Greene. With two errors on just one page, I would love to see how many more inaccuracies there would be in the book. This is especially wondrous considering that Meg Greene has written two books on Japan, "Japan: A Primary Source Culture Guide" and "The Technology of Ancient Japan". According to Amazon, she has only published four books.
Fail.