Godzilla is a 1998 American monster film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. Produced by Centropolis Entertainment, Fried Films, and Independent Pictures, and distributed by TriStar Pictures, it is a reboot of Toho Co., Ltd.'s Godzilla franchise. It is also the 23rd film in the franchise and the first Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, and Harry Shearer. The film is dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka, the co-creator and producer of various Godzilla films, who died in April 1997. In the film, authorities investigate and battle a giant monster who migrates to New York City to nest its young.
Theatrical release poster
Stan Winston's original Godzilla design for Jan de Bont's unproduced version
Tatopoulos showed this concept drawing (his personal favorite) to Emmerich and Devlin at Cannes 1996 which convinced them to move forward with the project.
A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under the horror, comedy, fantasy, or science fiction genres. Monster movies originated with adaptations of horror folklore and literature.
Theatrical release poster for Godzilla (1954).