Godzilla Poster Celebrates The Beast’s Japanese Heritage

By Nick Venable | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

godzillaBefore you know it, everything printed on paper—books, napkins, towelettes, etc.—will be rounded up by the government, recycled, and then turned into Godzilla posters, which will then become our standard form of currency and identification. “This ATM has a fee of 3 Godzillas. Do you accept?” And you always accept, because Godzilla is king. A good king is one who pays respect to history, which is something Legendary and Warner Bros. have given attention to in this marketing campaign. The King of the Monsters was born in Japan, and his effortless destruction will always be one of that country’s greatest exports. What better way to show that than to consistently put out stunning posters?

The poster’s release was timed with Warner’s announcement that their upcoming WonderCon panel will focus on Godzilla, Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow, and the found footage disaster flick Into the Storm. Though the latter looks corny, the other two have the potential to be the most action-packed flicks of the year. We’re of course more interested in the King of the Monsters’ return to form from director Gareth Edwards, but there’s no denying Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and co-screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) can easily make a movie that could sway even the most venemous of Cruise abhorrers. Edge of Tomorrow dropped a new TV spot during Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards, so we can certainly expect to see new footage for all three of Warner’s films for their panel on Saturday, April 19 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Am I the only one that thinks maybe these promos are somehow able to hypnotize us with subliminal imagery? Because every single look at Godzilla that we’ve seen has been absolutely incredible. From the more stylistic takes on the posters to the plastic toys to the immaculate CGI beast in the film, everything is right up there with my wildest expectations. And that never happens, I have an overactive imagination, so the only explanation must be that they’re tricking us.

Plus, the actual plot seems a lot more sensible than bombastic. The film follows Bryan Cranston’s Joe Brody, whose life is ripped apart as Godzilla begins ripping the planet apart. The result of secret tests in the 1950s, Godzilla and another set of monsters were thought dormant but are brought back in a huge, loud, menacing way. (We don’t even officially know what these creatures look like yet.) Joe’s son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a military man who goes on some kind of a Godzilla-killing mission, while Elizabeth Olsen plays Ford’s forlorn-looking wife Elle. Also starring, Ken Watanabe, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathaim, Godzilla will hopefully be a human story set in a disaster, rather than merely a disaster story with a few humans sprinkled in for good measure.

We’ll all find out when Godzilla FINALLY hits theaters on May 16. The extended promo below should tide you over for the next two-and-a-half minutes.

Godzilla