Warner Bros. and Legendary Launch New Godzilla at Comic Con

Author: Andrew Nguyen Special Thanks to Jeff Guba From July 18 to the 22, the San Diego Convention Center hosted the annual event known as San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). Although primarily focused on comic books since its beginnings in 1970, SDCC has in recent years become an enormous entertainment industry trade show where the biggest names in entertainment go to interact with fans. In recent years, multiple conventions all over the country have adapted the name Comic-Con in the hope of attracting more visitors. From 2010 to 2014, the Godzilla series has had a presence at SDCC due to the movie GODZILLA that was produced by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures and released in 2014. The biggest presence of Godzilla in the lead-up to the release of the first movie was in 2013 with a Godzilla museum and Virtual Reality experience hosted by Legendary Pictures.

Five years later, a new Godzilla movie from Legendary and Warner Bros., titled GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, is on the way and the marketing has already kicked off several weeks before SDCC 2018 and inevitably the movie would also have an important presence at SDCC this year. In the exhibit hall, several companies that sell Godzilla products had their merchandise on prominent display. They included Bluefin Distribution and NECA with previous releases and scheduled ones. During the convention, NECA revealed that its future products will include the monsters slated to appear in GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. The main Godzilla event of SDCC took place on Saturday at the Warner Bros. panel in Hall H with three large screens and a room filled to around 6,000 people. First on the agenda at the WB panel were the movies FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD and then THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART. These panels involved key actors from each movie appearing and discussing the details of what to expect before the release of each film. In addition, a new trailer was debuted for each panel as an exclusive launch at SDCC to give the fans some additional insight for what’s to come. As the host finished up the presentation of THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART panel, the three screens at the front of the room went black and the room went silent. Immediately the screens transitioned to red before the speakers emitted sounds that one associates almost immediately with Godzilla. It was soon followed by the presence of Godzilla’s dorsal fins that were bright blue before Godzilla emerged in full to fire his atomic ray at the screen to impressive applause from the audience. Once it dissipated, the movie’s title appeared on the left and right screens while the main screen in the middle displayed the main event of the panel.

Once the lights came back on, the host announced the beginning of the Godzilla panel with the arrival of the actors Millie Bobby Brown (STRANGER THINGS), Vera Farmiga (UP IN THE AIR, SOURCE CODE, BATES MOTEL), O’Shea Jackson Jr (STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, DEN OF THIEVES), Thomas Middleditch (KONG: SKULL ISLAND, SILICON VALLEY, CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE), and director Michael Dougherty (KRAMPUS, TRICK `R TREAT) onto the stage. After everyone took their seats, the panel got underway with the host asking each guest from the film first about their reaction towards working on the movie and whether they had known of the Godzilla series beforehand. Both Millie Bobby Brown and Vera Farmiga were reserved in their answers with Farmiga comparing her experience more to the film LAND OF THE LOST while Brown did some research about the series once she got the role. Dougherty, Jackson Jr and Middleditch showed a lot more enthusiasm when they mentioned their reaction to working on the movie including the fact that they were fans of the series when they were much younger. The next question by the host was about the possibility of other monsters appearing besides the main four to which Dougherty joked that besides Kong, other monsters including those not part of Toho before turning serious when he did mention that other monsters may indeed appear in the movie.

The panel allowed for a single Q&A and the question turned out to be a significant one as a fan asked about the score for the movie and whether they would follow the lead of the movie READY PLAYER ONE which used a segment of Godzilla music for its score during the climactic battle (featuring Mechagodzilla) and the panel answered that several classic musical cues from legendary Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube would be used and that Legendary Pictures selected Bear McCreary (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, THE WALKING DEAD, COLOSSAL, THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX) as the composer for GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. The panel ended with the debut of the new trailer that was exceptionally well received by the audience. Overall, reaction to the Godzilla presentation in Hall H was very positive with a lot of people very impressed by the information in the panel. Later, back at the WB booth in the exhibit hall, the screens had changed to show GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS and they were also handing out a Comic Con poster of the movie.

For more information on GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan: