Is a Gamera Reboot(Japanese or US) inevitable?

[Vakanai]

Heck, Gamera getting some amazingly perfect Hollywood debut and franchise that trumps and one-ups Godzilla's debut(G98) and franchise(monsterverse) would almost seem to be borderline destiny at this point....considering how the Heisei Era and "Blu Ray Box Set" battles both played out.

I mean, it's not like that'd be a hard hurdle to clear. Sure, 2014 is a legitimately good film marred by that "cut away from the monsters" crap, but KotM and GvK are, in my opinion, legitimately bad movies (especially GvK) with legitimately the best kaiju action (again, especially GvK). All Gamera really needs to deliver is a good story with good action. I think the action is easy to pull off, and all they really need to do to deliver a better story than the last two MV movies is, you know, actually give a damn and put it in a little effort into making a story. I think Gamera would be primed to deliver on that. The only barrier is Kadokawa would actually have to want to stop sitting on Gamera and effing use him.

Added in 1 minute 29 seconds:

I don't think Kadokawa will have anything more than very tentative plans for Gamera or Daimajin until after the summer release of their new Yokai sequel. If we're talking about history repeating itself, just look at 2005, when Kadokawa's moderately successful remake of The Great Yokai War opened the door for new Gamera and Daimajin content.

Yeah, but hopefully we'd get something better than a movie that flops (despite being genuinely good to almost great) and a series I've heard nothing great about.

[Chrispy_G]

I mean, it's not like that'd be a hard hurdle to clear. Sure, 2014 is a legitimately good film marred by that "cut away from the monsters" crap, but KotM and GvK are, in my opinion, legitimately bad movies (especially GvK) with legitimately the best kaiju action (again, especially GvK). All Gamera really needs to deliver is a good story with good action. I think the action is easy to pull off, and all they really need to do to deliver a better story than the last two MV movies is, you know, actually give a damn and put it in a little effort into making a story. I think Gamera would be primed to deliver on that. The only barrier is Kadokawa would actually have to want to stop sitting on Gamera and effing use him.

Yeah, I mean, I love the MV to death, and I love KOTM and GVK to death...but no movie is perfect and there is always room to do things better. Like...just because I love them, doesn't mean I just think that they are 100% perfection with zero flaws. That type of film doesn't exist. Some of my absolute favorite movies have a lot of flaws.

-For "Hollywood Debut" - G98 is a VERY low bar to clear, and G14's cutaway irritation was immediately avoided in every subsequent MV film and I am sure a Gamera film would do the same.

-For "Hollywood Franchise" - I love me some Monsterverse, but it always felt uncertain and on somewhat shaky ground. Like almost every film created a "well, they just need to adjust some stuff in the next one" kind of vibe. GvK was coming no matter what when KOTM was released....but if KOTM had made twice as much as the Box Office, we certainly would have gotten a VERSION of GVK that was a bit more sure of itself and a bit less "adjusted on the fly".

Granted, the MV being adjusted on the fly worked out MUCH MUCH better than it did for something like the DC Films in recent years, but still...a Gamera film or trilogy with a more clear and concise vision from the outset could avoid all of those bumps in the road. That is ALWAYS the benefit of 'going 2nd' in any field. The trend-setter is the trend-setter, but inevitably they make a few mistakes along the way that others can easily avoid.

-For "Japanese Reboot" - Shin Godzilla will be a TOUGH one to usurp in financial success and critical praise....but I could certainly see them making a movie that was a LITTLE less divisive, a LITTLE less controversial, and a LITTLE more accessible/marketable to a broader global audience.

-For "Anime Debut" - Again, the Godzilla Anime Trilogy in my opinion is quite a low bar to clear. All of the positives you would think could be gained from going to the anime medium(lots of monster screen-time and the ability to deliver massive scale visuals and action that live action can't do) felt like they were largely wasted...wasted on something trying to be a very subversive "Hard Sci-fi" take on the mythos. The anime trilogy ultimately felt like it had 2 films worth of material padded out to an entire trilogy.

One thing I will hope for is a return to the 1:85 aspect ratio of the Heisei Era. I think the taller nature of giant monsters and buildings just makes the framing have more potential in 1:85...Pacific Rim shows this well.

It isn't world changing...but I don't think the MV went in the right direction by committing to 2:40 widescreen.

[Terasawa]

Isn't there a sort of stigma towards 1.85 in Hollywood, that it's perceived of as too much like TV? I can't find it now, but an article I read very recently showed that Hollywood productions have increasingly favored 2.39 over the last couple of decades -- during that same span, we've seen the advent of hi-def TV and that industry's adoption of the 1.78 aspect ratio, so I'd guess the increase of 2.39 films from Hollywood isn't coincidental.

Aspect ratio today seems to be pretty arbitrary. It's not like the pioneer days of widescreen photography, where the equipment you used (itself often determined by certain contracts the studio signed) directly determined the aspect ratio. I don't know why the Monsterverse films, for example, are composed for 2.39, except perhaps that the filmmakers or studio just prefer that shape.

[Chrispy_G]

Isn't there a sort of stigma towards 1.85 in Hollywood, that it's perceived of as too much like TV? I can't find it now, but an article I read very recently showed that Hollywood productions have increasingly favored 2.39 over the last couple of decades -- during that same span, we've seen the advent of hi-def TV and that industry's adoption of the 1.78 aspect ratio, so I'd guess the increase of 2.39 films from Hollywood isn't coincidental.

Aspect ratio today seems to be pretty arbitrary. It's not like the pioneer days of widescreen photography, where the equipment you used (itself often determined by certain contracts the studio signed) directly determined the aspect ratio. I don't know why the Monsterverse films, for example, are composed for 2.39, except perhaps that the filmmakers or studio just prefer that shape.

Perhaps...but it is odd, as 1:85 looking 'like TV' has to be a very recent stigma...as up until the advent of HD, most TV programs were created for 4:3, while plenty of films were being made for years at 1:85.

If anything, I would say TV programs moving from 4:3 to 16X9/1:78 made them feel more cinematic, "matching" many movies, as opposed to the other way around.

In an odd piece of trivia, some of the highest grossing films of all time use the 1:85/1:78 aspect ratio as opposed to 2:35/2:39/2:40

Highest Grossing G rated(and 2D animated) film worldwide - The Lion King 1994
Highest Grossing PG rated(and 3D animated) film worldwide - The Lion King 2019
Highest Grossing PG-13 rated(and overall) film worldwide - Avatar
Highest Grossing R rated film worldwide - Joker
Highest Grossing NC-17 film worldwide - Lust, Caution
Highest Grossing Anime film worldwide - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train

Many animated and anime films go for 1:85 by default, or at least used to. The original 3 Jurassic Park films were shot that way, Spielberg opted for it on the original because he felt the height of the dinosaurs filled the frame better in a 'taller' aspect ratio. He lobbied for Trevorrow to use it on Jurassic World, but I believe they compromised at 2:00...there's a great video essay on the matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKALxKbjOaE

You could argue that perhaps 1:85/1:78 gets a BETTER response because it matches the framing most people watch day-in and day-out at home. Some filmmakers seem to almost exclusively film in 1:85 like Del Toro and Ang Lee. Nolan often shoots with IMAX cameras, so when viewed on a home TV, a number of shots and sequences expand to fill the full image of the TV, basically expanding from 2:35 to 1:78...and everyone always seems to love those sequences.

Generally...I don't think it makes a TERRIBLE difference over how "Cinematic" something feels, I tend to chalk that sort of thing up other avenues like the overall cinematography, shot composition, use of color, camera angles and movement, etc.

One thing I DO KNOW though....is that viewing films on my TV(which is of course 16X9)....I absolutely appreciate not having the black bars....or at least the black bars being as thin as possible. I don't own a 55 inch TV to use only 75% of it.

[Terasawa]

Isn't there a sort of stigma towards 1.85 in Hollywood, that it's perceived of as too much like TV? I can't find it now, but an article I read very recently showed that Hollywood productions have increasingly favored 2.39 over the last couple of decades -- during that same span, we've seen the advent of hi-def TV and that industry's adoption of the 1.78 aspect ratio, so I'd guess the increase of 2.39 films from Hollywood isn't coincidental.

Aspect ratio today seems to be pretty arbitrary. It's not like the pioneer days of widescreen photography, where the equipment you used (itself often determined by certain contracts the studio signed) directly determined the aspect ratio. I don't know why the Monsterverse films, for example, are composed for 2.39, except perhaps that the filmmakers or studio just prefer that shape.

Perhaps...but it is odd, as 1:85 looking 'like TV' has to be a very recent stigma...as up until the advent of HD, most TV programs were created for 4:3, while plenty of films were being made for years at 1:85.

That's what I said, or tried to say, anyway. This was the article I mentioned (found it, finally); the author charts the aspect ratio for the top grossing films per year from 1996 to 2015. For most of those years, there's a marked and steady trend toward 2.39:1. He also alleges that the Jurassic World filmmakers "felt that 1.85:1 was too TV" -- I don't know anything about those movies so I have to take him at his word on that. That's my only direct evidence of an apparent stigma.

Thank you for mentioning standard definition television. If not evidence of a stigma against TV's aspect ratio, it's at least evidence that Hollywood has historically liked a wider image than TV. Widescreen as it exists today exists because the movie studios of the early '50s were feeling the pressure from the booming interest in television. Virtually every movie shot by Hollywood from the late 1920s until 1952 was in the 1.37:1 ratio (dubbed the Academy Ratio because it was so predominant that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declared it the industry standard). 1953 was the year that the studios adopted various widescreen processes, and 1.37 effectively only remained in use cinematically (in America) 'til the later 1950s (and would have disappeared sooner if every theater could have built a wide screen in 1953).

So, come the adoption of 1.78 as the aspect ratio of hi-def television models in the late 1990s, I'd guess there were probably many new conversations in Hollywood about aspect ratio -- probably even more once HD broadcasts started favoring the 1.78 aspect ratio in the 2000s.

Historically speaking, 1.85 would have been considered far more practical than 2.35/2.39 simply because of the industry standards for 35mm film. My other point was that, today, with film as a medium essentially out of the picture (pun intended), 1.85 and 2.39 are equally practical. Anyone with hi-def cameras can shoot for either. Hell, I could compose a 2.39 movie on my phone, I'd just have to crop or matte out the top and bottom of the frame before projecting it.

Edit: Coming back to this a few hours later, I realize this probably reads more aggressively than I intended it. My apologies. I mean only to clarify my previous post.

[Chrispy_G]

Edit: Coming back to this a few hours later, I realize this probably reads more aggressively than I intended it. My apologies. I mean only to clarify my previous post.

No worries at all, I love talking about this stuff!

I would like to see a new Gamera film go for the 1:85 look though, I think it would be a nice way to stand out from the aesthetic of the MV, and I just think the shots could have a different balance that really works.

[Pkmatrix]

Yep, I've heard similar stuff as well about filmmakers overall turning away from 1.85 since the adoption of 1.78 TV, largely because audiences flipped. Remember back in the '80s and '90s when most people hated "Letterbox" and would go for "Fullscreen" releases? By the early to mid-00s it flipped around, audiences had gotten wise and come to understand that "Letterbox" = Movie and "Fullscreen" = TV. Except, this was the same time when "Fullscreen" on TV changed from 1.33 to 1.78. The results have been audiences (at least in the US) generally reacting with:

Letterbox = Movie
Fullscreen = TV
Pillarbox = "What's wrong with my TV? It's cutting off the sides of the picture!!" (AKA the old response when people had 4:3 TVs and saw a movie presented in Scope)

1.85 fell into this unfortunate hole where it's still widescreen, the aspect ratio is so close to the 1.78 ratio TVs are built to now that it's easy to mistake it for "Fullscreen", therefore over the last 20 years (and ESPECIALLY the last 10) people have come to see 1.85 as the "cheap" aspect ratio that merely mimics a "real" movie aspect ratio, rather than what had be one of the standards of American cinema for decades.

[Chrispy_G]

I still personally see 1.85/1.78/16x9 as the "Master Ratio" and would love to see a Gamera reboot, US or Japan, done that way.

Let Del Toro direct if it is US and live action
Let Genndy Tartakosky take the helm if it is US and animated
If it's Japanese...maybe go for that Gantz: O "hyper realistic" style....and have Chris Pratt voice the lead in the English Dub since between Lego, Onward, Mario and Garfield, he's all the rage for starring voice roles

I would just LOVE for Kadokawa to somehow get the Gamera reboot, US or Japan, to be the Triple A of the Triple A. JUST to keep that competition going

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Let Genndy Tartakosky take the helm if it is US and animated

Yes to all of this. Especially in the animation style of Primal.



Would be epic as skreeonk.

[Chrispy_G]

Let Genndy Tartakosky take the helm if it is US and animated

Yes to all of this. Especially in the animation style of Primal.

Would be epic as skreeonk.

Oh absolutely!

I also think any modern Gamera production/reboot could afford to be extremely sort of reverential and referential to the Gamera legacy in a lot of cool ways. Godzilla has a much longer legacy, and so many more films...it would be hard to make a modern Godzilla film that sort of felt like it touched on it all.

Gamera has a smaller roster of films and villains, far fewer director's who worked across the franchise, etc

I'd be all in for trying to give cameos to actors and actresses from across the series. There were so many kids in these films, it would be great to see them make cameos in a modern reboot.

I'd love to hear modern 'serious' reinterpretations or orchestrations of the classic Gamera kid theme, "The Myth" by Bakufu Slump is an absolute banger and could be included or have a cover.

The Monsterverse sometimes used news headlines, TV banners, and civilians with signs to incorporate Easter Eggs to the films. "Gamera, friend of all Children?" could easily be the title of an in-universe headline or article. Someone can ask if Gamera would be spelt with one M or two. You could drop dialogue references to Gamera being 'invincible', to being a "guardian of the universe" etc etc

You could absolutely have a kid in the film, even in the most minor of roles, named Kenny...or at least Ken.

Just so much potential to really acknowledge and enshrine so many different pieces of Gamera lore.

[Breakdown]

At this point I'd rather just have Toho buy out Gamera and do something with him, either Godzilla vs Gamera, a reboot, or put him in the MonsterVerse. Kadokawa is making a huge mistake by not doing anything with the character and striking while the iron's hot. At least Toho seems to have an overarching, long-term goal with the Godzilla franchise whereas Kadokawa....just sits there. If Gamera is ever going to come back, he'd be in better hands with Toho to be perfectly honest.

[JAGzilla]

Yeah, but this is Toho we're talking about. If they bought Gamera, it would probably be so they could just shelve him permanently and not have to worry about competition.

[NSZ]

Implying he hasn't already been shelved permanently...

[shadowgigan]

Didn’t they say no in the early 2000s? If not then, I can’t see it happening. Although I do think the move to Toho would benefit the franchise.

If I ever win the lottery I will put out a Gamera movie lol.

[Gigantis]

Implying he hasn't already been shelved permanently...

I'm hoping he's not, but the fact that we haven't gotten a single thing about him so far in recent years is getting to the point of concerning.. Unless we count that copyright renewal, which does mean Kadokawa apparently still wants to keep Gamera around for one reason or the other.

I feel like Kadokawa wanted to strike with a new movie via that 2015 short that kinda doubled as a proof of concept. Something probably went wrong behind the scenes and it got shelved, and they don't really know what to do with him now.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

I wish Toho would just buy out Kadowaka Productions and Gamera. Make Gamera relevant again goddammit!!!!

I just want him to return!

Didn’t they say no in the early 2000s? If not then, I can’t see it happening. Although I do think the move to Toho would benefit the franchise.

That was 20 years ago. Like people, companies can certainly change.

[Legion1979]

Isn't it enough that we have companies likes Disney buying every other company under the sun? You guys really want Toho to buy out Kadokawa just to get a new movie with Gamera? Can we not encourage big companies to get even bigger? I'm tired of corporate monopolies.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Isn't it enough that we have companies likes Disney buying every other company under the sun? You guys really want Toho to buy out Kadokawa just to get a new movie with Gamera? Can we not encourage big companies to get even bigger? I'm tired of corporate monopolies.

Better Toho then ever Disney. Hell better any company then Disney for that matter.

Plus you wouldn't want Gamera being part of the Godzilla franchise?

[Legion1979]

Isn't it enough that we have companies likes Disney buying every other company under the sun? You guys really want Toho to buy out Kadokawa just to get a new movie with Gamera? Can we not encourage big companies to get even bigger? I'm tired of corporate monopolies.

Better Toho then ever Disney. Hell better any company then Disney for that matter.

Plus you wouldn't want Gamera being part of the Godzilla franchise?

No I absolutely would NOT.

[shadowgigan]

I don’t care who owns it, as long as I get a new film.