Godzilla 1998 - What if it had been rebranded as a remake of....

Generally I agree with you in that it really seems more like a remake of Beast than of Godzilla. The significant difference is that the creature was a spawn of nuclear bomb testing more in line with Godzilla, and not a frozen dinosaur brought out of such a hibernated state.

But even with that, I'm willing to bet if it were initially branded as a remake of Beast with some minor adjustments in story, it would have easily been accepted as such, it would definitely have a better rating here even if not better box office receipts.

But then, box office is king and they paid for the rights, so it's got to be Godzilla, right? Maybe some enterprising fan who can re-edit and dub a little can change it to Beast? Doesn't seem it would be too hard using some footage from Beast, and a story of how they found an egg of the Rhedosaurus and placed it on a remote island to study the creature, and then that was the one mutated from atomic radiation.

Look, I already started it.

So if all reference to Godzilla had been omitted, edited out, and it had been released as a remake of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which is almost what it is, how would it be viewed?

As a lifelong Godzilla fan, I was deeply disappointed by the American 'Godzilla (1998),' because it did not seem to have ANYthing to do with the REAL Godzilla. There was so much hype leading up to it, about this being the first American Godzilla film, totally under license from Toho - and Toho don't license NOTHING they don't expect a good profit from.

The first midnight showing, boy I was there. Wearing my best Godzilla shirt and I was first in line. It was exciting for all of us G-fans, whose last chance to see Godzilla in the theatres had been 13 years earlier - limited release - and most of us missed it.

That monster was NOT - and will never BE - Godzilla. It was a good monster, though; it just wasn't what had been advertised. It was NOT Godzilla. Wasn't long before the online fans were calling that monster 'GINO' (Godzilla In Name Only), and more recently, Toho resurrected it as 'Zilla.'

If the producers had billed/sold it as 'America's New Kaiju' and given it a new name, I think it would have been much more successful. I would have liked it more, anyway.

- Oh, SOMEbody asides me is gonna RUE this here particular day...

As a lifelong Godzilla fan, I was deeply disappointed by the American 'Godzilla (1998),' because it did not seem to have ANYthing to do with the REAL Godzilla.

According to the film's Wikipedia page..

"The "Godzilla" on the film was considered so different from Toho's Godzilla by the fans and the audience that the term GINO, "Godzilla In Name Only", was coined by critic and Godzilla fan Richard Pusateri to distinguish the character apart from Toho's Godzilla.

In 2004, Toho began trademarking future incarnations of TriStar's Godzilla as "Zilla" for future appearances. This decision was made by producer Shōgo Tomiyama and Godzilla: Final Wars director Ryuhei Kitamura because they felt Emmerich's film "took the God out of Godzilla” by portraying the character like a mere animal."






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