Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla is an upcoming American science fiction monster film based on the Japanese film monster of the same name and is a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise .[2] It is the second Godzilla film to be fully filmed by an American studio, the first having been the 1998 film of the same name. The film retells the origin of Godzilla in contemporary times as a "terrifying force of nature". The film is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Sally Hawkins and Ken Watanabe.

The film is a co-production[1] of Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures worldwide, except for Japan where it will be distributed by Toho. The film is scheduled to be released on May 16, 2014 in 2D and 3D.[3]

Plot
Director Gareth Edwards confirmed an origin story for the film.[4] Screenwriter Frank Darabont in interviews described his plans for Godzilla as returning it to a "terrifying force of nature". The film will add a "very compelling human drama" and that Godzilla would be tied to a "different contemporary issue" rather than the original atomic bomb testing.[5] Director Gareth Edwards, at a promotional appearance in 2012, described the tone of the film. "We're just going to take it really seriously. I've wanted to see this movie this way all my life. Imagine if this really happened – as crazy as it sounds – what would it really be like?"[6] In January 2013, it was reported that Warner Brothers, in a meeting for advertisers, revealed that the film would contain two new monsters in addition to Godzilla, and the plot of the film would revolve around the story of a young US Marine.[7] Screenwriter David Goyer also stated that there were two other monsters in the script when he worked on it.[8] Star Elizabeth Olsen described the film as "definitely not lighthearted. It's kind of going back to its roots of the original Japanese film."[9]

Cast
Some roles are yet to be named or specified.
 * Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lieutenant Ford[10] [11]
 * Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody [11] [12]
 * Elizabeth Olsen as Ford's girlfriend [11]
 * Ken Watanabe
 * Juliette Binoche
 * David Strathairn as "The Major"
 * Richard T. Jones as a military figure "The Colonel" [13]
 * Victor Rasuk
 * Akira Takarada (unspecified role)[14]
 * Sally Hawkins as a scientist <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-deadline-20130405_15-0">[15]
 * Yuki Morita as Akio <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16">[16]
 * CJ Adams as Ford's stepbrother <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17">[17]
 * Jared Keeso as Jump Master<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-cmcbook-061013_10-1">[10]
 * Patrick Sabongui as Sergeant Marcus Waltz
 * Al Sapienza as Huddleston
 * Brian Markinson as Whalen

Development
After the release of 2004's  Godzilla: Final Wars , marking the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla film franchise, Toho  announced that it would not produce any films featuring the Godzilla character for ten years. Toho demolished the water stage on its lot used in numerous Godzilla films to stage water scenes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18">[18] TriStar Pictures, which had made the 1998 GODZILLA film and held the rights to American Godzilla movies, had let their rights expire in 2003 and the character that starred in that film was subsequently renamed "Zilla" by Toho.

Director Yoshimitsu Banno, who had directed 1971's  Godzilla vs. Hedorah , secured the rights from Toho to make an IMAX 3D short film production, tentatively titled Godzilla 3D to the Max, based on a remake of the Godzilla vs. Hedorah story. Banno and producer Kenji Okuhira then added American 3D cinematographer and visual effects supervisor Peter Anderson to the project. Also through Anderson, Kerner Optical came on board to produce the 3D film. In 2007, American producer Brian Rogers met with Banno and was added to the project. However, Banno was unable to find backers to produce the Imax film. Rogers approached Legendary Pictures in 2009, and the project was changed to produce a feature film instead.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19">[19]

In August 2009, rumors surfaced that Legendary was in talks with Toho to produce a new American Godzilla film to be released in 2012,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-bloody-disgusting1_20-0">[20] and on March 29, 2010, it was officially confirmed that Legendary had acquired the rights to Godzilla. Legendary announced it would reboot the franchise with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros. Warner Bros. ] co-producing and co-financing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-variety-032910_1-3">[1] Legendary announced it would make the new film closer in style to the original 1954 film rather than the 1998 film and its "iguana-like creature".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-variety-071710_21-0">[21] According to Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures, (sic) "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop culturally relevant for as long as it has."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hollywood_Reporter1_22-0">[22] Film producers Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Doug Davison and Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni were added to the project to work with Rogers, Banno and Okuhira.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stomps_23-0">[23]

At the 3D Summit conference held in September 2010 at Universal Studios, producer Brian Rogers confirmed a planned date of 2012. The reboot is a live-action project featuring a fully computer-generated Godzilla. Godzilla will fight at least one or two monsters, rather than simply the military as seen in Emmerich's 1998 remake.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-roger-sept-2010_24-0">[24] Rogers also confirmed that the two Godzilla head designs that were floating around the Internet and rumored to have been designed by Legendary and sent to Toho for approval were fake, and were just simply fan-made. He also went on to say that he and Legendary Pictures wished to revive Godzilla in the same fashion Legendary revived Batman.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Coventry_Telegraph_25-0">[25]

In October 2010, a new script was commissioned and David Callaham (script writer of The Expendables) was named to write it.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hitfix-oct14_26-0">[26] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-KillerFilm_27-0">[27] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-slashfilm_28-0">[28] In the same month it was also rumoured that Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) was approached to direct the movie, which del Toro later denied.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hitfix-oct14_26-1">[26] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Comic_Book_Movie_29-0">[29] In January 2011, Legendary named British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, director of the 2010 film Monsters to direct the film. Edwards stated then that he was concentrating on a few ideas, including working on a script with Timur Bekmambetov (Apollo 18, Night Watch, Wanted, and 9).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Coventry_Telegraph2_30-0">[30] In an interview publicizing the DVD release of his film Monsters, Edwards stated (sic) "this will definitely have a very different feel than the 1998 film and our biggest concern is making sure we get it right for the fans because we know their concerns. It must be brilliant in every category because I'm a fan as well."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-dreadcentral_31-0">[31] "Without addressing anything specific, everyone knows how important is to get it right."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Shock_Till_You_Drop_32-0">[32] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hr68246_33-0">[33] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mcnary_34-0">[34]

After Callaham, four more persons worked on the screenplay during the film's development. When Edwards' signing was announced, it was also announced that Callaham's first draft would be rewritten by another writer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mcnary_34-1">[34] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hollywoodreporter2_35-0">[35] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-lp-release-post_36-0">[36] In July 2011, David S. Goyer was attached to do the rewrite of the film's screenplay.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-37">[37] Goyer only worked a few weeks on the script and did not get a screenwriter credit. In November 2011, Max Borenstein was hired to continue work on the script.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-38">[38] In October 2012, Legendary announced that writer Drew Pearce would polish the script, making the principal characters older to suit the actors that Legendary intends to cast.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-39">[39] In January 2013, Frank Darabont (writer-director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Majestic, The Walking Dead), was added to write the final/shooting script.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-deadline-report_40-0">[40]

The film remained in development into 2012, missing the planned release date. Edwards worked on his vision for the film at a stage at the Warner Brothers lot. The production team developed Godzilla models, artwork and pre-visualizations of the action scenes of the movie. From the lot, Edward directed a short teaser video, shown to Legendary executives and later shown at the San Diego Comic-con in July 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-lin-talks-godzilla_41-0">[41] Two images from the video were eventually released to the internet.