Is a Gamera Reboot(Japanese or US) inevitable?

[Angilasman]

It seems co-productions are all the rage in Japan, at least when it comes to large-scale production. I think we'll most likely see another Japanese camera film when another company takes an interest and it becomes a joint venture with Kadokawa.

[BlankAccount]

I honestly feel like the ideal moment to resurrect Gamera has already come and gone. The present kaiju boom might keep chugging along, but unless there's already a movie that's being created in secret right now, it doesn't seem likely that Gamera is going to be part of it.

It might not be until Godzilla himself goes dormant again that we see another Gamera film released; that's what's happened in the Heisei and Millennium series.

Yeah, I feel like around Pacific Rim or shortly after G2014 was the chance. Maybe even around Shin. I'm also not happy that it seems that every since the Showa era ended Gamera movies seem to come after a Godzilla series is over or about to end.

Added in 1 minute 39 seconds:

I'm way less optimistic than you guys; I have given up all hope.

We bestow it upon the world, Gamera; The Last Hope. May it awaken with the Shadow of Evil, Gyaos.

[Chrispy_G]

I do think that in theory, a Gamera reboot would be able to be 'easier' in some sense than a Godzilla reboot
- Being able to look at Shin, The Monsterverse, and the Anime trilogy...and use them and the reaction to them as a way to avoid certain pitfalls and make certain improvements.
- Gamera doesn't have a legacy or devoted fanbase to the same degree as Godzilla, so I think there would naturally be fewer warring fans and more people just willing to roll with whatever it was.
- Godzilla has a lot of interpretations from outright destructive villain to antihero to essentially a superhero...and a lot of fans have their favorite iteration and style and assumptions of exactly how to balance the serious and not-so-serious elements of his lore, and exactly how to portray his role within the film down to very subtle nuance. I think Gamera is much more consistently and overtly displayed as generally 'heroic' and so it would be easy to go in that direction and most would be happy about it.
- That basically changes the whole style and structure of a Gamera movie into a much more 'giant, epic supehero' type of movie, centered around the good vs evil nature of the giant monster plot. The savior vs the destroyer. The Monsterverse feels like they have to always juggle that "but Godzilla is a threat and we should destroy him" plot element as well as navigate the specifics of justifying and organizing the monster clash. With Gamera, you outright have a monster 'programmed' to be good and be a defender and to stop the bad monster....it just cuts through a little bit of the narrative red-tape.

I think a Hollywood Gamera reboot would be quite an easier thing to execute than a Godzilla Hollywood film. A simpler character with a simpler mythology and a more straight-forward blueprint on how best to execute him on screen. With Godzilla, both the Monsterverse and Shin Godzilla feel like equally valid and qualified interpretations of the character despite being quite different. I'm sure some fans hate BOTH.

Added in 9 days 9 hours 37 minutes 35 seconds:
If Gamera were rebooted as an anime in a 2D shone style, or a CGI style like Gantz: O....that could be pretty epic as long as it were done right. I would certainly prefer anime films to series. Or a limited series.

If it were a limited series, then for the opening theme I would go with a modern remix of the Gamera: GOTU end credits song "Myth"...that song would be perfect for an anime opening.

Gamera also doesn't have a strong issue of absolutely needing to tie into some form of metaphor or commentary on nuclear bombs/testing/waste. Gamera can carry a much more general theme of that without needing something as overt as Godzilla always seems to call for.

You ignore that completely in a Godzilla movie and a lot of people will roast you. Gamera can get away with it not having to be worked in as something very integral.

Also....Haven't seen the Heisei films in years....but I don't recall ANY incarnation of Gamera being overtly atomic in nature, as in, giving off a lot of radiation or being highly radioactive. In Godzilla's origins and most incarnations, his mere presence is a radioactive threat. Shin and The Monsterverse seem to avoid the harshest and dark interpretation of that(G's radiation had a short half life in Shin, and he seems to have magical 'healing' radiation in the Monsterverse)

So with Godzilla you always have that thread, or the lore seems to want to push a thread of 'if he levels a city, he isn't just destroying it, he is leaving it as a radioactive wasteland'...while Gamera doesn't carry that kind of weight.

Basically....the moral compass with Gamera, between his outright heroics and not having an inherit lasting radioactive danger suggested by his mere presence....allows Gamera to so much more easily be played as an outright good force, even if he IS potentially dangerous....the whole 'walking nuclear disaster' element isn't there, and being created as an inherently "good" creature with a positive/beneficial purpose...casts him much more overtly as a hero and less in a grey away.

So the movie gets to operate in a much more clear way of the audience liking and rooting for Gamera, while Godzilla movies, again, have to walk a bit of a fine line there.

Godzilla's origins are also a bit more complex. An ancient super-predator awakened by nuclear energy. An outright dinosaur(or iguana!?) mutated by nuclear energy, some sort of demonic spirit. Some mish-mash of man made creation and natural animal occurrence.

Gamera has such a clear and easy out of being a biomechanical genetic creation of some form of lost super civilization/alien species, or even divine presence. His power set and nature automatically calls for a "simple" hand-wave of his existence as something BEYOND this world and the natural order....instead of trying to somehow work him in as a believable mutation or natural creature of the planet.

I think any Gamera reboot just, on a narrative level, is just a much more simple undertaking than Godzilla. A "perfect" trilogy to use as a guide, a much less dense lore and mythology, less baggage and varying degrees to his interpretation and the role he serves in the story, and even his origin is 'cleaner'

[Gigantis]

Besides Gamera being awakened by nukes in the Arctic in the original 1965 film, no, he's never been truly atomic in nature. I guess if someone wanted to go back to his non Atlantean roots they could go that angle but they're gonna face criticism because it's too similar to Godzilla.

Also, i don't think Gamera really has to be tied to Atlantis anyway. Gamera the Brave made no knowledge of it but still expanded the mythos fairly well.

[Chrispy_G]

Besides Gamera being awakened by nukes in the Arctic in the original 1965 film, no, he's never been truly atomic in nature. I guess if someone wanted to go back to his non Atlantean roots they could go that angle but they're gonna face criticism because it's too similar to Godzilla.

Also, i don't think Gamera really has to be tied to Atlantis anyway. Gamera the Brave made no knowledge of it but still expanded the mythos fairly well.

I think getting too specific about some of these things can even be detrimental. Yes there is a fun and value to saying "Yes, he is a creation of Atlantis and Atlantis was real"

Casting the entire thing in a greater shroud of mystery sort of alleviates the potential scrutiny of it all. You aren't saying he definitively is an alien creation, or an ancient civilization creation, or a divine being, or some weird mutation....you kind of just keep the ball in the air and focus on the matters at hand.

I think there is a fine line to walk in how to play it. Godzilla being so directly and closely tied to the Atomic aspect of his origin creates a difficulty, or at least certain parameters to meet, in modern presentations where nuclear energy of all varieties is very prevalent and in a lot of cases mostly effective and 'stable'. Shin jumping on the Fukushima element was great. However, we don't see the 'reckless atomic tests' going on any more and the types of things that happened in the 40s and 50s happening today.

Gamera's origin, I think, is much easier to modernize and re-contextualize and make fitting in any new interpretation.

[_JNavs_]

If they can do a Gamera film and have it firmly planted in Antarctica that would be so fresh.

Maybe a throwaway line about myths/rumors of giant walruses and aliens roaming around as an homage to The Thing and Maguma.

[Gigantis]

If they can do a Gamera film and have it firmly planted in Antarctica that would be so fresh.

So a film about a group of scientist awakening Gamera and trying to keep him contained? Sure that sounds nice!

[_JNavs_]

If they can do a Gamera film and have it firmly planted in Antarctica that would be so fresh.

So a film about a group of scientist awakening Gamera and trying to keep him contained? Sure that sounds nice!

Yes! Maybe have the climax of the reboot be similar to the original film, where the (U.S. or Japanese) government gets called in and we get that classic off the wall "Kaiju vs Military" on ice, battle. Modern effects could really give us some insane scenes.

But the one thing i'd get rid of, is that connection between him and people, as he really didn't have it in the original. Have him be this unknown variable that's woken up and becomes the biggest threat to humanity (or so they think).

[Chrispy_G]

I like the idea of an entire, or most of, a kaiju film occurring in the arctic.

I mean....if you REALLY wanted, a Gamera reboot could be almost on the tier of At The Mountains of Madness, albeit maybe a little less of a sea of darkness. The slow discovery of Atlantean and/or "ancient" civilization and tech, coming across things like the smaller versions of Gyaos, and eventually unleashing Gamera himself and then it becoming sort of about containing Gamera down there.

You could go really jet black with a Gamera reboot. I don't think you NEED to, but I think that is a mode of execution that COULD certainly work.

[BlankAccount]

The crazy thing is there is concept art of Gamera among Toho monsters for G:KOTM. Which is the most unofficial official thing ever (official in that it was done by an artist working on the film, unofficial as I'm sure they didn't approach Kadokawa Daiei to ask about using him).

[Destorogoji]

I like the idea of an entire, or most of, a kaiju film occurring in the arctic.

I mean....if you REALLY wanted, a Gamera reboot could be almost on the tier of At The Mountains of Madness, albeit maybe a little less of a sea of darkness. The slow discovery of Atlantean and/or "ancient" civilization and tech, coming across things like the smaller versions of Gyaos, and eventually unleashing Gamera himself and then it becoming sort of about containing Gamera down there.

You could go really jet black with a Gamera reboot. I don't think you NEED to, but I think that is a mode of execution that COULD certainly work.

Horror/mystery Gamera could definitely work. There aren't many kaiju horror films out there, and both Gyaos and Atlantis leaves a lot to work on.

[Chrispy_G]

If we are going to throw out dream scenario cast/crew...on top of Guillermo Del Toro directing and co-writing...

I would 100% want Michael Giacchino to score the film. He's super A-list, but now that he's won Best Picture so is Del Toro...

If we have to have some youngsters in the cast....folks like Camren Bicondova and Jacob Tremblay would be on my list.

[JAGzilla]

Now, if a US reboot is going to happen, I want to see the right studio behind this reboot. Legendary has done some good things with their kaiju, absolutely, but an awkward elephant in the room has always been their reluctance to give us proper city destruction and military battles. The Gamera series isn't really known for either, true, but... why not change that? Heroic Gamera (assuming he is a full-on hero) doesn't have to go that route, but if he's going to save the world, let's allow the enemy monsters to break things on-screen and really establish themselves as honest threats.

[Deathginger]

I just hope the licensing fee is large enough to keep those Asylum wackos away.

[Chrispy_G]

Now, if a US reboot is going to happen, I want to see the right studio behind this reboot. Legendary has done some good things with their kaiju, absolutely, but an awkward elephant in the room has always been their reluctance to give us proper city destruction and military battles. The Gamera series isn't really known for either, true, but... why not change that? Heroic Gamera (assuming he is a full-on hero) doesn't have to go that route, but if he's going to save the world, let's allow the enemy monsters to break things on-screen and really establish themselves as honest threats.

Very true...I'm not into 'disaster porn' as a genre of films, but I certainly think that giant monster movies absolutely justify at least a sequence or two that truly relishes in the city and landmark destruction that these movies are so well known for.

[Gigantis]

Here's an idea: why not have Gamera challenge an older, larger and more ruthless Gamera? Like the Battra to his Mothra, a second Gamera that believes that the only way to save the world is to wipe it clean and let every modern animal go extinct. Maybe not right away, but if a Gamera reboot spawns a sequel or two that could be a nice plot to go with.

[BlankAccount]

Now, if a US reboot is going to happen, I want to see the right studio behind this reboot. Legendary has done some good things with their kaiju, absolutely, but an awkward elephant in the room has always been their reluctance to give us proper city destruction and military battles. The Gamera series isn't really known for either, true, but... why not change that? Heroic Gamera (assuming he is a full-on hero) doesn't have to go that route, but if he's going to save the world, let's allow the enemy monsters to break things on-screen and really establish themselves as honest threats.

Very true...I'm not into 'disaster porn' as a genre of films, but I certainly think that giant monster movies absolutely justify at least a sequence or two that truly relishes in the city and landmark destruction that these movies are so well known for.

The kaiju genre is the one genre where I feel destruction porn is justified as they are meant to be metaphors of either natural disasters or weapons of mass destruction. Obviously there are outliers like the Godzilla and Kong movies that take place exclusively on islands.

Added in 1 minute 39 seconds:

Here's an idea: why not have Gamera challenge an older, larger and more ruthless Gamera? Like the Battra to his Mothra, a second Gamera that believes that the only way to save the world is to wipe it clean and let every modern animal go extinct. Maybe not right away, but if a Gamera reboot spawns a sequel or two that could be a nice plot to go with.

Could work. Even though Gamera started off as a baddie, I'm too used to him being a hero, it almost feels wrong having him be evil. It's gonna take time to get used to seeing two Gameras being on screen at the same time though.

[Chrispy_G]

After having discussions in other threads...I would love to see it be some kind of US co-production for an anime/animation, with talent from both sides being on board in different capacities.

Whether it be a 2D animation or 3D. If you could get Guillermo Del Toro in some kind of Producer role, and someone like Genndy Tartakovsky as Director....holy heck we would be in for something dynamic and special.

[Gigantis]

Anime Gamera kinda feels like something that should've happened years ago, since his universe could blend in well with more fantasy/science fiction types of it. So long as it's not made by Polygon..

[Chrispy_G]

Anime Gamera kinda feels like something that should've happened years ago, since his universe could blend in well with more fantasy/science fiction types of it. So long as it's not made by Polygon..

Amen...I always like to joke that it feels like those behind the Heisei Trilogy basically looked at the shortcomings of the 90s Godzilla films and just dedicated to doing better across the board.

Then the Gamera Box Set follows the Criterion set, and pretty much gives fans everything they were hoping THAT set would have for Godzilla.

The ultimate "salt in the wound" would be for Gamera to be rebooted as an anime trilogy, and for it to just decimate the Godzilla anime trilogy on every creative and commercial level.

Could you imagine a Gamera anime film shattering records in Japan harder than Shin Godzilla, being so big that when it gets brought to the US it performs on the level of something like Dragon Ball Super: Broly?

Just another case of Gamera following up Godzilla and "hitting the home run", like with the Heisei Trilogy and the Box Set.