An ‘Emergency Announcement’ From Toho Studios: A New Godzilla Movie Is on Its Way
™ & © 1964 Toho Co., Ltd.
Fans of the original wave of Godzilla movies will recall that they often featured a frantic radio announcer breaking into programming with an Emergency Announcement letting people know that the King of the Monsters had reawakened and was once again on his way, like the one pictured above in a scene from Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). (That sort of radio warning was also one of the lovely old-school homages featured in last year’s feature Godzilla Minus One, which managed to be both a great throwback and a terrific look-ahead for the franchise.)
Toho Studios, producer of the Godzilla movies, played off this in a fun way with an Emergency Announcement of its own just a bit ahead of Godzilla Day 2024, which will mark 70 years since Ishirō Honda‘s original Gojira opened in Japan on Nov. 3, 1954.
The very brief video, seen below, opens with the familiar voice of an announcer trying to get our attention for an important notice (it may very well be the voice used in the original movies, but I’m not certain, even though it does sound like it), set to part of the classic Godzilla theme by Akira Ifukube.
It then explains that Godzilla is indeed approaching once again … in the form of a new movie greenlit by Toho, which will be produced and directed, and with visual effects by, Takashi Yamazaki, who wore those hats on Godzilla Minus One (he and his team earned a Visual Effects Oscar their work).
Like the people hearing the Emergency Announcements in the movies, we don’t yet know exactly when or where this new Godzilla will arrive; we must simply remain on high alert for further details, none of which — title, story, setting, release date, possibility of introducing other kaiju, etc. — were revealed in the video.
Yamazaki put out a quick little video of his own announcing the exciting news, and that was just as short in time, and short on details, as the overall announcement. But you can tell he is as jazzed at the chance to work with Godzilla again as fans are about seeing what he comes up with.
Both announcements are careful to avoid saying this new movie will be a sequel to Godzilla Minus One. It very well might be, and it would be great to pick up the stories of the wonderful human characters from the film along with Godzilla, but something entirely new would also be welcomed, and would surely be very well done and compelling in Yamazaki’s hands. His Godzilla Minus One ranks as one of the best films in the 70 years of the franchise, one of the two titles, along with Gojira, that I would consider to be genuine works of art.
So, for now, Godzilla fans must be happy just knowing for sure that the King of the Monsters will rise again, as he has continued to do for seven decades.
Remind