Do you think Toho has managed Godzilla's Legacy well?

Chrispy_G · Post by **Chrispy_G** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:24 pm

Very wide ranging question I figured I would poll the crowd with.

Obviously for a franchise nearly 70 years old...you can't expect it to always go perfectly at every turn.

But sometimes it does seem like almost every inconvenience in the status of the series, or bump in the road in the form of this film or that film...of this release or that release...of this issue or that issue....it often seems to stem back to "Well, this is a problem because of Toho"

Has Toho mis-managed the Godzilla brand/legacy over the years?

Thatguy4683 · Post by **Thatguy4683** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:31 pm

I mean I think it they can manage the franchise well but I think now they’re going to make some bad decisions because they are more experimenting on the franchise more than ever now than before, having shin Godzilla forms is definitely something different from the franchise and same goes to The anime trilogy even though I hated it, they were definitely unique concept for the franchise, they’re taking more risks to see if it works or not, so I’ll be expecting different concepts in new Godzilla films from Toho

Major sssspielberg! · Post by **Major sssspielberg!** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:37 pm

I'm gonna say they've made a lot of bad decisions. Look at:
The giant mess of licensors who hold the rights to the various films in the States.
Allowing G98 to go down as it did.
Lousy preservation. (IE chopping original elements for KKvG Champion ver.)
And it can all be boiled down to typically taking the quick and easy way for whatever they're trying to do at the moment, which always seems to either bite them or us in the ass. Not to mention they don't exactly have the best foresight.
Marvel has been an excuse for Disney to print money, Godzilla would be the same if they weren't such tight-asses.

Post by **eabaker** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:23 pm

Major sssspielberg! wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:37 pm The giant mess of licensors who hold the rights to the various films in the States.

This really isn't something Toho had significant control over. In the early days of the genre, importing foreign genre films for the US market was not something that interested most major distributors (Joseph Levine was breaking significant new ground with the dubbing and distribution of the original Godzilla and the Pietro Francisci/Mario Bava Hercules flicks), and nobody who was interested was in a position to establish a long-term, wide-reaching contract with the company.

Post by **LSD Jellyfish** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:38 pm

Historically, no, but a lot of it is easy to judge in hindsight. But in retrospect, a lot of their "foibles" have paid off tremendously well. Godzilla became popular because of a very few select theatrical releases KOTM and Godzilla vs, Megalon. They were actually way ahead of the curb for Japanese media being released in the United States, just that the audience never existed (didn't exist yet, in the same way that our modern audiences exist).

I think recently, like very recently, they've started to recognize the problems and are trying to rectify years of issues surrounding international releases. A lot of their recent pushes are surprisingly progressive for Japanese companies. Examples would include allowing films to be easily streamable in Japan, partnerships with Netflix, and started to release more international materials related to Godzilla that aren't Japan exclusive. They've also been a lot more transparent about things.

Terasawa · Post by **Terasawa** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:04 pm

LSD Jellyfish wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:38 pm Godzilla became popular because of a very few select theatrical releases KOTM and Godzilla vs, Megalon.

Well, it wasn't just these two movies... The '50s and '60s Godzilla movies (and Toho sci-fi movies in general) were well-ballyhooed and did respectable-to-good business at the U.S. box office, especially during a period (the mid '60s) when the market for sci-fi films was all but gone. (And as Evan mentioned, these movies did tremendously compared to virtually all other non-English imports.) Additionally, their second lives on TV secured their place in American pop culture for the next several decades. These are consistently overlooked factors in Godzilla's success in America.

Voyager · Post by **Voyager** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:09 pm

I mean, Godzilla was also very successful in Europe. Germany and Italy are probably the ones that received Godzilla the best, as is shown by Cozzilla and all the various “Frankenstein” movies.

Terasawa · Post by **Terasawa** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:17 pm

Prior to Shin and the anime trilogy, English, German, and Italian were the only three languages that every Japanese Godzilla movie had been dubbed into (at least as best as I can determine). It might still be true after those films, I just don't know the specifics of their Italian and German releases.

edgaguirus · Post by **edgaguirus** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:24 pm

That Godzilla has lasted so long, and still has new material coming out shows Toho has pretty well cared for their biggest star. Toho's international releases have secured Godzilla a place in Europe and the U.S., as well as the movies showing on television. Television and a lack of willingness to experiment may be the biggest mistakes they made before Shin. Tsubayara sensed that television was going to become bigger than the movie market, but Toho went on with movies. Because of that, the late Showa films had budget cuts. Later on, films showing new monsters didn't always do well, so Toho would often stick to kaiju they knew would bring in the profits.

Now, however, the franchise has shown a new growth of creativity and experimentation with Shin and their animated features. Toho seems to be doing a good job so far, even if fan reaction isn't always positive.

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