Kaiju News Bits - 'Rampage' plot, 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' Jaeger, and 'Shin Godzilla' release!?

Well these last few weeks have had an interesting peppering of giant monster news and we here at Tokyo Lives have been very busy recently, thus unable to cover these stories as they occurred (Sorry about that!). I know we'll be talking about most of these during our next episode of the podcast that will be releasing towards the end of the week but I thought why not release an article as well. Let's dig in! 

First up we got some juicy plot details for the 'Rampage' film from Dwayne Johnson's instagram account. Take a look:

Goin' primal. 🦍 Good to finally have boots on the ground here in Georgia for production of #RAMPAGE. I head up an anti poaching unit out of Rwanda. My best friend is a rare albino gorilla named, George. Very bad people infect George, an alligator and a wolf with a serum. All three animals grow at an unprecedented rate. Their size, speed, agility and violent aggression is off the charts. They go on a deadly rampage and want to destroy the world. George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don't like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend. And when I find them, I will not lick them. We have the best VFX monster making team (WETA) on the planet. Our actors and crew have been working very hard to raise the monster genre bar. As always, let's have some fun. Let's shoot. 🤙🏾 #PrimalDNA #George #Lizzy #Ralph

There was also a nice plot breakdown that might be a little spoiler heavy so I will just link you to it here.  Overall there aren't too many surprises within these first plot details since they basically describe the plot of the games. Well technically in the later Rampage titles the creatures are actually humans that have been mutated into the monsters so I guess this does point out that they are basing the film on the first game. Interestingly enough, I feel like the humans into monsters angle may have been a bit more compelling for a film adaptation (maybe some horrifying transformations).  But anyways lets move on to the next news bit!

'Pacific Rim: Uprising' has finished filming and is currently deep into post production now which is great for us fans because now we will start getting gems like the above image. This schematic was spotted at a toy convention in Japan and it gives us the best look at a new Jaeger we have had so far. It looks like Gypsy Avenger (Gyspy Danger's replacement) will have a similar arsenal to the original Jaeger. This includes the return of the Elbow Rocket, Chain Sword, and the Plasma Caster. It seems like the turbine in it's chest has been upgraded to a "Dual Vortex Turbine" which kind of hints that maybe Gyspy Avenger is still a analog Jaeger. Cool stuff all around.

Last but certainly not least, it looks like we have a tentative release window for the american 'Shin Godzilla' Blu-Ray/DVD.  According to Blu-raydisc.de Germany is getting their 'Shin Godzilla' home release on August 8th. Now you may be saying "Kyle that's the GERMAN release not the American release" and you would be right in questioning this. But hear me out! One thing to note is that the English Dub is being put onto this version of the film. Also the time frame fits from all of the other live action Funimation releases that they have done (like Attack on Titan). So due to these pieces of evidence, I am predicting that we are looking at a July-September release for the film in the states.

Do these news bits excite you? Let us know in the comment section below! 

'Godzilla: Resurgence' - Behind The Scenes And Trailer 2 Footage Breakdown

Time for the honored tradition of taking screenshots from a trailer and over-analyzing them. 'Godzilla: Resurgence' has a new trailer (Watch it here) that released early this morning and they also had a short behind-the-scenes special on a morning radio show (Watch that one here). There is a ton of new footage and plenty to talk about so let's dive in.

We open the trailer with a nice low angle shot of Godzilla's head with his hand in the foreground. I think this is the only shot of his hand that it doesn't look like a little baby hand (yeah I'm not gonna let the size of his arms and hands go) and it's a nice shot to start us off with. We get a couple of reused Godzilla shots from the previous trailer after this, with one cool perspective shot of Godzilla and his tail peaking through the buildings as the crowd runs away. Afterwards we get to watch a group of people talking about something, but unfortunately we still have no idea what is going on. Just like the first trailer, this one is completely devoid of dialogue and that makes the middle of the trailer especially hard to get through. But I'll tell you what there is a lot of... I'll give you one guess...

Boardroom scenes! You get a boardroom and you get a boardroom! Seriously though, in this trailer alone there are four completely different boardroom sets/scenes and to be honest it worries me. To me, this makes it seem like the main cast members are going to be away from the action every time, which will definitely cause a major disconnect when we cut from one to the other. The best Godzilla attack moments usually come when we have a person on the ground is involved in the action, like a military commander that gets to be right at the forefront when the tanks and helicopters do their thing. Speaking of helicopters next up we have an awesome shot from the TV spots.

I love, and I do mean love, how much the camera is moving around with the military vehicles during the attack sequences we have seen. This juxtaposes well with Godzilla's overall lack of movement (other than his tail...man that thing is crazy!) and makes the scenes exciting to watch. This movie is definitely going to be visually stunning!

I know everybody loves the charging shot from later in the trailer, but this is actually my favorite shot from this new trailer. The mini-gun bullets are literally bouncing off of his face! It reminds me of one of the cooler scenes from 'Superman Returns' (some might say the only good scene) where the bullet bounces off of his eye and Superman doesn't even flinch. Speaking of not flinching:

We now see a group of shots where Godzilla is bombarded to the face and knees, all of which show off some pretty impressive CGI explosions. Godzilla takes all these hits and keeps on coming like a champ! I think that these scenes are actually helped by this Godzilla designs apparent lack of movement as it really gives you the feeling that this monster is unstoppable. If all that ordinance does nothing, then what will? How can they stop this immovable object?

Just like I said in the TV spot article, this design really shines in the night sequences. These shots are some of the few from which I actually feel the terror that the design is trying to portray. This shot reminds me of the scene in 'Godzilla 1985' when he arrives at the nuclear plant and steps on the hapless worker.

Man this shot is cool! It radiates demonic vibe, and that is a very good thing. Now this would be something that would fundamentally frighten me if I saw this from the rooftop of a building. Love the glowing red parts of his body at night (very 'Godzilla vs Destoroyah').

We end on the roar shot from the first trailer but it looks less awkward now that we can see the beginning and end of the roar. I don't know why they didn't use this slightly extended version in the first trailer, since it looks better with just 5 seconds more of footage. 

Now we get to the biggest talking point of the trailer, Godzilla's beam charges up purple! In my humble opinion, I don't think that we are actually getting a fully purple beam but the glowing purple images are extremely striking. I think that the beam is going to start out purple at the base of his mouth and then turn blue as it goes farther out from his mouth. The reason he charges up purple is of course because this Godzilla is constantly glowing red. Red+Blue = Purple. This would also make sense given that a purple chemical flame is hotter than a blue flame, so naturally the farther the beam is from the source (Godzilla's gaping maw) the cooler and less intense the beam will be.

Now finally we have some shots from the little behind the scenes morning show clip. All of the good images are super far away shots to show the scale of Godzilla as he comes ashore. Please excuse the poor quality of the images and the little bits of text that sneak their way into the images.

Unfortunately this design still looks extremely silly from the front. If I were Anno (the director of 'Godzilla: Resurgence') I would have avoided this angle at all costs but it actually seems to be one of his favorite shots for an approaching Godzilla. Which is weird when it is followed by the following beautiful image.

Now that is a Godzilla silhouette that I can get behind! This is the first long distance shot of the Shin-Goji design that I have actually been stunned by. He really looks like '84 Goji, and I (personally) love it.

There are two other really cool sequences that I couldn't get a worthy grab of from the behind the scenes: a shot of Godzilla walking and making shingles fall off a building, as well as a quick scene with one of the main actors seeing Godzilla's head (very similar to the 'Gojira (1954)' puppet shots) and speaking a line of dialogue. Both of these are very interesting and I can't wait to see them in better quality at some point in the future.

I can't wait to hear fans reactions to the full film when it releases in Japan on July 29th. What did you guys think of the trailer? Do you agree that the breath may still turn blue throughout Godzilla's beam? Let us know in the comments below.

'Godzilla: Resurgence' Trailer 2 - Purple?!

Well this week is officially awesome! First we get two TV spots and now we get a final trailer for 'Godzilla: Resurgence.' Check it out!

There sure is a lot of cool stuff in this trailer! The human side of the story does look a bit worrisome though (boardrooms galore!).

Keep an eye out for my full trailer breakdown later today!

'Godzilla: Resurgence' - New TV Spots And Images Revealed

Well, we are now only 9 days away from the late night showings of 'Godzilla Resurgence' premiering in Japan. Super exciting! Toho seems to have finally jumped on the marketing train with some new footage in the form of three 30 second long TV Spots and a couple of new promotional images.

The first of the three TV Spots is honestly nothing to write home about, as it only uses footage from the official trailer. The other two are a different story entirely. We get some really nice glimpses at never before seen action shots, and a few good profile shots of Shin-Goji's head. I think what really needs to be said about these three spots is that this film is going to have a really unique style, and the cinematography is going to be of a quality never seen before in a Toho released Godzilla film. That shot of him walking from the prospective of a car driving by is particularly great.

I have been very vocal with my dislike of the Shin-Gojira design as a whole, and unfortunately these spots really do not change my mind. Everything we have seen of the full body looks super awkward and stiff (which is saying something since this creature is created mostly through CGI), save for his tail which moves every chance it gets. The head looks pretty fantastic from a side profile but from the front it still appears goofy, since he apparently can't close his gaping mouth. The design does look like it is going to shine at night (pun intended), a true sight to behold with all of his glowing red spots. His eyes definitely still evoke 54, and that's fine by me (though I still wish they were about 10% bigger). I'm still holding out for some great body movement from Godzilla himself in the full film, but for now there is still a lot of awkwardness to this design. 

Toho has also been shoving 'Godzilla: Resurgence' articles into every magazine possible within the last few weeks, and, as such, we have gotten a few more glances at this design in action. Both of these covers give a nice look at what this design will look like when he finally turns his head.

I do wonder what Toho was thinking with the marketing of the movie. Why did they wait until the last second to do all this awesome marketing? I know they were probably trying to do something akin to 'Godzilla (2014)'s marketing which managed to keep a lot of secrets for the film, but I think they missed the mark. The thing that was so great about 2014's marketing was the constant trickle of new info. A new TV Spot here and a new poster there, it kept people talking about the film up until the release. I'm very interested to see how well the film does in Japan with this super last minute marketing blitz.

'Godzilla: Resurgence' releases in Japan on July 29th.

Shin-Chan Vs Shin-Gojira Crossover Is Releasing On July 22nd

Apparently Toho is going all out with anime crossovers for their new Godzilla film. Our buddies over at Gormaru Island have translated a Japanese news report that breaks down a very interesting (weird if you ask me) crossover. The popular anime 'Crayon Shin-Chan' will be having a special crossover episode on July 22 featuring a certain familar icon that we all love and hold dear.

The plot of this crossover seems pretty much what you would expect from anything Godzilla related:

The mysterious giant monster Godzilla has invaded Kasukabe, Saitama. The story of the cross-over episode involves Godzilla wrecking Shinnosuke's home town of Kasukabe, and since all of the residents are still paying off 30 year mortgages on their homes, they arrange an impromptu Self Defense Force to counter the interloping monster.

The biggest and coolest bit of news within this utterly ridiculous crossover is that Shin-Godzilla's official roar will be used in the anime. The fact that they specify this means that the roar we have heard in the trailer has not been the official roar and was definitely just a placeholder. This is super exciting and definitely allows us to continue to speculate about his possible roar (I'm hoping for a return of the Bio-Goji roar myself).

Apparently, the creators of the episode will be attempting to recreate Shin-Goji's movements from the upcoming film to make this a faithful adaptation. The actual design shines in an anime format surprisingly and I have less problems with it then I ever have. I still think it looks super goofy from certain angles but hopefully when he is constantly moving my issues will fade to the back of my mind. We also get a glance at Godzilla's nuclear breath and it definitely looks like they are going more wispy with it, ala 'Gojira' (1954). Weird that it is most definitely blue though.

This will probably be our best glimpse from what to expect out of the new Godzilla in 'Godzilla Resurgence' before it opens in Japan on July 29.

New App Shows Shin Godzilla In Full Motion

About eight hours ago, a new smartphone app released in Japan promoting the new Toho film 'Godzilla: Resurgence.' In the app, you have to scan a QR code and then focus your camera on the poster of the film. Godzilla then comes crashing through the poster while audio from the trailer plays in the background. This gives us a really cool glimpse at his possible level of mobility in Resurgence itself, so it's definitely worth checking out.

I have never been the biggest advocate for this design. In fact, I can go on the record saying that I do not like it very much at all. Seeing the suit in the full film might end up changing my mind though, as long as he has the full range of movement seen in the app video above. Gone are the super stiff motions that we have seen thus far, and replacing them are some very Godzilla like movements in his upper torso. I still don't really like the snake mouth, but I think I could get over that in time.

We also seem to get a brief glimpse at his radioactive breath, and it looks like they may be returning to a white beam instead of the more traditional blue. This would be yet another reference to the 54' Gojira design, and I am completely on board for this minor change. Hopefully, we will keep getting more and more of these little glimpses at the design before the film releases in Japan on July 29th.

Is This Really The Company Handling The American Release Of 'Godzilla: Resurgence?'

This week, film distributer New World Cinemas spoke for the first time about their supposed 'Godzilla: Resurgence' U.S. distribution on their Facebook page. While we have previously reported that New World Cinemas would be taking the reins on the American release of the film, I'm starting to have some doubts that an unknown distributor would be given the reigns to a reinvigorated franchise the size of Godzilla. I have a bit of evidence (or lack thereof) that may shine some light on this bizarre turn of events.

The above mentioned Facebook post stated the following:

“To all GODZILLA FANS! We are working hard to bring GODZILLA to every State! Patience my Friends... she is coming soon!”

Looking at the post from a purely innocent standpoint, this seems to be great news. Fans have been plastering their Facebook and Twitter with questions pretty consistently since their name showed up on the film's IMDB page. Their website has also had a strange "coming soon" page listing a 2017 release for a DVD of the film for over a month now. The Facebook post is the first real comment they have made about the film's release, other than a couple images of text that say in very broken English:

“Godzilla “The King of the Monsters’ is back in a new film “Godzilla: Resurgence.” Going back yo his roots, The Toho Company and co-drectors Hideaki and Shinji Higuchi have designed Godzilla to be more menacing and destructive. THE FILMS OPENS IN JAPAN JULY 29 2016 and will be distributed in the USA through NEW WORLD CINEMAS some time after that.”

I did not edit that paragraph in any way and you can clearly see that on both their official site and their Facebook page they come off as incredibly unprofessional. Toho has yet to officially make any sort of statement announcing an international release of the film and has made no mention of the film being distributed by New World Cinemas or anyone else for that matter. 

This all just seems extremely suspicious to me. In the last thirty years, Toho has distributed the Godzilla films in the United States using major companies like Sony (Late Heisei and the Millenium films including 'Godzilla: Final Wars')  and HBO/Miramax ('Godzilla vs Biollante'). Heck, even 'Godzilla 1985' was distributed by a company called New World Pictures (no relation to New World Cinemas) that had worked as a distributor on major films running all the way back to the 60's. Big companies are interested in distributing Godzilla films because they usually make decent money in DVD sales with barely any cost to the studio.

We know there was a marketing expo back in January/February that was showing off the concept of the film for a potential international distributor. There have also been rumors floating around that Warner Bros. were given first dibs due to their ongoing relationship with the American Godzilla sequels. If a big studio like Warner Bros. were given the opportunity to distribute, how did this tiny company that mostly distributes bottom-rung independent films win out the bid? Godzilla has become a house-hold name again due to the generally well received American movie from 2014 and has made a new audience interested in the G-man for the first time. It doesn't make any sense that none of the studios who worked with them before (especially Sony who seems to have an excellent relationship with them distribution wise) wouldn't want to capitalize on Godzilla 2014's popularity. In the modern distribution landscape, this situation looks like dollar signs, even without considering a theatrical release for 'Godzilla: Resurgence'.

Another suspicious item to note is the New World Cinemas official Twitter, which is plastered with political propaganda for the upcoming american presidential election. This official company Twitter page for the company reads more like a personal account and definitely does not exude any semblance of professionalism. Toho has always seemed like a corporation that prides themselves on being very straight laced and polished. Why would they allow their most iconic property to be handled by this strange company? 

I'm not going to call out New World Cinemas for outright lying to us just yet, but this whole situation seems extremely odd. I also worry about this company being in charge of subtitling and/or dubbing the film with their lack of integrity regarding the release and how they run their business. Many individuals and companies have tried to contact them for screening information and outside of confirming that they are in fact handling the distribution of the film to one fan that reached out, they have ceased responding to even professional inquiries. 

I'm sure we will find out more in the coming months, but for now call me a skeptic with this being how the U.S. distribution of the film will move forward. You can see New World Cinemas IMDB page here if you want to look into the other films they have previously distributed.

Am I looking into this too much? Do you think they really are the distributors of 'Godzilla: Resurgence'?