Oh no, there went San Francisco… Here came Godzilla, the impressively successful new American version of the long-running and enormously popular series of Japanese kaiju movies about a fire-breathing Tyrannosaur type monster who both represented nuclear war and also the salvation of mankind. (It’s an admittedly odd mix.) Godzilla had the biggest opening day grosses of the year and blew the competition away with an estimated opening weekend gross of $93 million, but audiences seem divided about whether it was totally awesome or a big let down.
How did this discrepancy come about? It’s not too hard to come to certain conclusions about Godzilla and its aftermath, so take a look at the 5 Things We Learned From Godzilla and get ready to apply these lessons in your own life, the art of storytelling and the Hollywood hype machine as a whole.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Godzilla: 5 Things We Learned
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People Wanted THIS Godzilla...
Godzilla now boasts the biggest opening day grosses of 2014 (so far), despite competition from popular franchises Captain America and The Amazing Spider-Man. The marketing promised a moody, suspenseful Godzilla movie where the monster was a beast of epic proportions, but not seen terribly often or clearly. Audiences loved that approach enough to buy their tickets...
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...And Then They Actually SAW It.
Reviews of Godzilla are pretty mixed. Few seem to outright hate it, but opinions vary about whether director Gareth Edwards was wise to withhold the title monster from audiences as much as possible, or whether he flat out ripped audiences off. Even though this was exactly the Godzilla movie the trailers promised us, many critics and audience members seemed to expect something different: wall-to-wall monster fights and destruction.
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But Godzilla Isn't The Problem...
Despite - or perhaps even because of - his limited screen time, audiences do seem to love this new version of Godzilla. He's bigger than ever and yet somehow a little cuddlier, leading many to dub him "Fat Godzilla" and declare their immediate need for plushy versions. And when Godzilla does get to dominate the screen in the new movie, he got the audience cheering with holy cow hero moments that, on their own at least, already feel like some of the best of the long-running series. No, Godzilla himself isn't the problem...
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...Human Beings Are.
It's easy to blame audiences for expecting a different movie than the one they actually got, but it's important to remember that Gareth Edwards wouldn't be getting so much flack for withholding the title monster if the rest of the cast of Godzilla was more interesting. Bryan Cranston is good but doesn't get enough screen time, and the rest of the characters do little but spout exposition and look upwards in awe. The actual actors have been great before, but so little was asked of them in Godzilla that they just couldn't keep the film interesting enough for many audience members to sit through the non-Godzilla parts without shifting in their seats.
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Either Way, We Want More.
Regardless of its deficiences, this new Godzilla has American audiences more excited for this franchise than ever. Those who love the film are outright ecstatic, and those who find fault in it are mostly complaining that there wasn't more. The message is clear: audiences want more Godzilla, and the studio is likely to oblige them very soon.
Now, bring on King Ghidorah!
