https://www.looper.com/1362648/godzilla-1998-bombed-box-office/
In 1998, America tried its hand at making a "Godzilla" movie, only to produce one of the worst entries in the entire franchise. Here's why it failed.
For one it was a generic Jurassic Park cash grab, Godzilla reimagined as a generic T Rex wannabe in a movie that featured a generic Spielberg ish plot and characters.
shareAmerica definitely took it on the chin for this abomination of a movie with a Godzilla that looked so radically different than what we're accustomed to, that they made absolute certain to kill the Faux Godzilla in FINAL WARS..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxhdo4HDgg
I don't think this movie is as awful as most people say. Having said that, it definitely still has its problems. My biggest complaint was turning Godzilla into a giant iguana. I always felt like the character worked best as an unexplained phenomenon. Basically a Japanese folk legend that turns out to be real.
shareI think that's the Number 1 reason why it had such a steep drop off. The year's worth of trailers and posters promised a big budget US 1990s Independence Day-style film with Godzilla, no more, no less, and that's what we got EXCEPT Godzilla didn't look like Godzilla. On top of that the Godzilla that doesn't look like Godzilla was eventually replaced by little baby Zillas that also don't look like Godzilla (or even Godzooky). Yes there were many other flaws, but that they were the kind of flaws that were similar to those of other big blockbusters of the time that did well (including Independence Day).
Although perhaps worth noting it wasn't strictly speaking a bomb, it just underperformed. They were still planning a sequel for a while, drafts were written in the year or so following the film's release.
Heisei Godzilla is the ideal movie design.
Godzilla would've worked best as a mystery/unexplained phenomenon.
I always thought the Honest Trailer summed up everything wrong with it the best.
https://youtu.be/vtzSP8VjkcE?si=FtlpYJxfs0Qkudzb
It failed because it simply looked nothing like GODZILLA should and it was so bad, that they poked fun at GINO in GODZILLA: FINAL WARS with the real GODZILLA dispatching GINO in less than a minute
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