Roland Emmerich believes his 1998 Godzilla film was “much better” than Toho’s monster

1998’s “Godzilla” is a complex beast. It was the first-ever American entry in the legendary franchise, and had a killer marketing campaign based on a “less is more” approach. Although the film has arguably one of the best teaser trailers ever. Does the film live up to the hype? While that’s certainly up to the individual viewer to say, the general consensus is that the film was a major disappointment, both critically and commercially. Despite this, the film’s director felt compelled to defend it – or at least, the controversial redesign of the King of the Monsters.

In a Reddit AMA In 2012, Roland Emmerich decided to ask some questions about “Godzilla.” Despite what one might think of the film, this was a largely no-holds-barred Q&A characterized by the kind of honesty one rarely gets from a major Hollywood filmmaker. For example, when someone asked him why he made a “Godzilla” movie when he didn’t even like the monster, Emmerich pointedly replied, “The money was good.” Emmerich was coming off the huge hit that was “Independence Day.” And he certainly got a good payday for today.

The reimagining of the beloved monster in ’98 is remembered for completely changing the way the title character looked. Everything we know about Godzilla has been abandoned in favor of something radically different, for better or worse. Another person inquired at the AMA why Emmerich decided to change almost everything about Godzilla in the film. His answer was illuminating, if perhaps irritating to longtime fans:

“I felt that redesigning Godzilla was important for the film. My vision required a different monster than the tough, indestructible rubber suit that Toho had been using for decades. It was time to give Godzilla a much-needed makeover in my opinion.”

1998 Godzilla has many problems, as co-writer Dean Devlin acknowledged. These issues go far beyond character design, but can easily be seen as a problem with the film’s director deeming the most iconic monster to ever grace the silver screen to be “useless” and in need of change.

Consider the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Successful productions over the years have largely embraced classic design as their baseline, but Emmerich has thrown all that out the window. Doubling down on his thinking, and answering another fan in that Q&A, he took a very big shot at the classic Toho Godzilla design dating back to the original 1954 classic:

“My version of Godzilla was realistic. It was sleek, modern, and looked scary. And it was so much better than Toho’s monster.”

Against a massive budget of $150 million, Emmerich’s film grossed $379 million worldwide. One can’t call it a failure, but it certainly didn’t live up to expectations, which is why we never got a sequel. It took 16 years for another American film to bring this franchise to fruition. exit Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla” hit theaters in 2014 and grossed $529 million worldwide. More importantly, it laid the foundation for what we now know as the MonsterVerse series, which is still going strong.

Say what you will about Edwards’ film, but he embraced what people loved about Godzilla, which is what allowed the franchise to thrive for 70 years. Different segments are welcome when a franchise has been around for this long – just look at it The 2023 Oscar-winning film “Godzilla Minus One.” But in retrospect, it’s strange that a man who doesn’t even seem to care about Godzilla has been given the keys to the kingdom.

“Godzilla” is currently available to rent on VOD, Or you can pick up a 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD copy via Amazon.