After the King of the Monsters reclaimed his international throne last year thanks to Gareth Edwards’ American $540 million dollar international hit of a reboot from Legendary Pictures – albeit the critical/audience response was highly polarising. The company that established the legendary (no pun intended) film icon, Toho, was quick to announce that they would be releasing their first Godzilla film since 2004’s 50th anniversary celebration Godzilla: The Final Wars (a favourite among many fans). This news immediately raised many questions, where would the 29th Godzilla movie go story-wise, was this a response to the divisive responses to the reboot, would Godzilla once again be played by a man in a rubber suit?

Well, sadly not all these questions have been answered but one thing we do know is that the directorial duo taking over the project is certainly reliable. Toho announced that the new film would be co-directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi (of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame), who are currently at work on the forthcoming live-action Attack on Titan film. Anno will also be on scripting duties too, while Higuchi will be supervising the work on the film’s special effects (so that’s no to a rubber suit sadly) by Shinji Higuchi (who previously worked on Toho’s Gamera Trilogy of the 90s). Admittedly the effects will in no way compare to the blockbusting counterpart but for longtime fans of Toho’s series, which started way back in 1954 with the legendary Ishiō Honda’s Gojira, the effects will merely be window dressing.

Toho’s Godzilla franchise is one of the longest running in existence and by taking the scaly cultural icon back to his Japanese roots, fans will undeniably be thrilled to hear that Toho has “looked into Japanese creators who were the most knowledgeable and who had the most passion for Godzilla.”. The series has always embraced its cultural qualities and it’s imaginative stories, so it will be interesting to see where they take the next phase of Godzilla’s legacy. Toho’s film will be released in 2016, two years ahead of the sequel to Legendary’s reboot and if the not-so-subtle teaser image (see below) is anything to go by, Godzilla is gonna be romping and stomping just as strongly as the last 60+ years. It is certainly a good time to be a fan of the big G.

STARBURST will excavate more details on Toho’s film ahead of it’s currently unspecified release date, additionally we’ll be listening out for the rumbles and roars that come from Legendary’s sequel which is set for a June 8th, 2018 release.

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