godzilla feature

As you may have guessed from my use of three exclamation points, I’m more than a little excited about the upcoming film from Legendary Pictures. Godzilla is undoubtedly the biggest movie monster in history. He’s a major part of Japanese culture and has even crossed over into America (although we still have a lot to learn, judging from the CGI monster in the Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie).

1998’s Godzilla from TriStar.

However, other than that one aberration, Godzilla always has been, and hopefully always will be, a dude in a rubber suit terrorizing a cardboard town. Toho, the studio that created Godzilla, retired the franchise in 2005 with the spectacular Final Wars. Being Godzilla’s 50th anniversary and farewell, the movie pitted Godzilla against every other rubber suit they had. It was epic.

godzilla final wars

Toho swore it would be the last for at least ten years, and they were true to their word. Legendary Pictures first announced the project with Warner Brothers in 2010. Then nothing… until this July’s San Diego Comic-Con. There Legendary announced a slew of details, and followed up with the recent announcement of a May 16, 2014 release date. And it seems like they’re committed to the old school appeal of Godzilla – like they respect the rubber suit.

godzilla legendary pictures concept

The movie is being directed by Gareth Edwards of Monsters fame. Edwards directs from a screenplay by David Callaham (The Expendables), David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy), Max Borenstein (The Seventh Son) and Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3). Alex Garcia, Patricia Whitcher and Doug Davison will executive produce alongside Kenji Okuhira and Yoshimitsu Banno. It’s that last name that is the most exciting. Yoshimitsu Banno directed 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedora, the 11th film in the Godzilla series.

It’s not even filming yet, so the expected release date may change – but it would be funny if it didn’t, because May 14, 2014 is also the release date for the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Crossover? (I hope not!)