Posterized: So many Godzilla movies
For this week's monster-themed Posterized, we're doing things a bit differently. In ye olden times, the Godzilla franchise was a mess, internationally speaking, with some films reedited, retitled, and rereleased or out of order. The original Godzilla (1954) actually has three separate versions: Japanese (1954), American (1956), and Italian (1976) and each one of them have different scenes and shapes (the Italian one is colorized) with only the American version adding in the Raymond Burr subplot. Even when the movies weren't chopped up and reconfigured they were sometimes called different things. For instance Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), which I loved on TV as a kid is also called Godzilla vs. The Thing and that "Thing" of the title ISN'T Mothra so it's all very confusing.
Essentially there are 32 live-action Godzilla movies. So we've listed them and then collected some noteworthy Godzilla posters that we found online, whether or not they were official posters. How many of these 32 pictures have you seen?...
THE MOVIES
All titles are Japanese films unless stated otherwise. * = the Criterion Collections holds the rights for the US market.
- GODZILLA (1954)*
- GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1955)*
- KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962)
The American version was heavily edited and dubbed but called the same thing - MOTHRA VS GODZILLA (1964)*
- GHIDRA THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964)*
- INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER (1965)*
- EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP (1966)
- SON OF GODZILLA (1967)*
- DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968)*
- ALL MONSTERS ATTACK (1969)*
- GODZILLA VS HEDORAH (1971)
- GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972)
- GODZILLA VS MEGALON (1974)*
- GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (1974)*
- TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975)*
- THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984)
As with the original 30 years before it was heavily edited and changed for American audiences, with Raymond Burr reprising his role, and released under the title "Godzilla 1985" - GODZILLLA VS BIOILANTE (1989)
- GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991)
- GODZILLA VS MOTHRA (1992)
- GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (1993)
- GODZILLA VS SPACE GODZILLA (1994)
- GODZILLA VS DESTOROYAH (1995)
- GODZILLA (1998, US)
- GODZILLA 2000: MILLENIUM (1999)
- GODZILLA VS MEGAGUIRUS (2000)
- GODZILLA, MOTHER & KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001)
- GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002)
- GODZILLA: TOYKO SOS (2003)
- GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004)
- GODZILLA (2014, US)
- SHIN GODZILLA (2014)
- GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019, US)
How many of those do you think you've seen?
9 GODZILLA POSTERS FOR FUN
Reader Comments (7)
The only ones in their entirety that I've seen are the original version and the horror that was the 1998 blockbuster bomb version that featured Poo Doody destroying "Kashmir".
I think I’ve seen about a third of these. The boyfriend and I were so into the new Godzilla when we saw it on opening weekend that we watched about four more from different decades over the next few days. Though seeing how many there are laid out like that is just daunting
I used to love watching Godzilla movies on TV as a little boy but i honestly have no idea which ones I watched (other than i've definitely see the Mothra and Ghidorah early movies because i loved those monsters best.
The 2014 one was so surprisingly bleak and sad. Awesome trailer, too.
I’ve seen all the US made and edited, plus one with Mothra (who is my favorite) except for its love relationship with Bathra.
I was a Godzilla freak as a kid. The best ones were the original, Monster Zero & of course Destroy All Monsters, which featured all of the monster gang, including Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah, Manda, etc, etc. Still look forward to seeing the new one, though it's getting mostly lukewarm notices.
BTW that poster from Poland is pretty damn cool.
I've seen most of them I'm a big creature feature fan!