One of the most controversial decisions in Godzilla (2014) was how little audiences saw the title character. One fan, Dave Szmigiel, dedicated his time to clock how long Godzilla is on-screen per film. (You can check his blog here for the full rundown.) His research pinned Godzilla's screen time at a little under 10 minutes in a 123 minute long movie. This means Godzilla is on screen for 8.1% of the movie.
Briefly, Dead Central reports some minor, but potentially exciting news regarding Godzilla in the upcoming sequel. Barnaby Legg, who created the Godzilla Encounter at San Diego Comic Con '13, is currently present at this year's SDCC. When the topic of Godzilla's lack of screen time came up he replied,
“Oh, don't worry. We know. All I can say is stay tuned! You're going to get exactly what you're hoping for.”
It's hard to say if Legg is close enough to the production to hear what the plan is or if he's simply hyping up a sequel he knows little about. For the Godzilla Encounter he was given a lot of production information to make the event authentic; so he may indeed know more than most people. Whether he does or not, it's something to chew on. At this point how could Legendary Pictures honestly not know fans want more Godzilla? As I mentioned above it's a fairly consistent criticism that continues to spark debate.
For those interested, here's a rundown of Godzilla's screen time and percentages he's on screen per film. Credit goes to Mr. Szmigiel*:
Godzilla '54 (8:45 out of 96 minutes) 9.1%
Godzilla Raids Again (9:30 out of 92 minutes)10.0%
King Kong vs. Godzilla (9:15 out of 97 minutes) 9.5%
Mothra vs. Godzilla (10:30 out of 88 minutes) 11.9%
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster (8:00 out of 93 minutes) 8.6%
Monster Zero (5:45 out of 94 minutes) 6.1%
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (13:00 out of 87 minutes) 14.9%
Son of Godzilla (12:00 out of 86 minutes) 13.9%
Destroy All Monsters (8:30 out of 89 minutes) 9.5%
Godzilla's Revenge (8:15 out of 70 minutes) 11.8%
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (20:30 out of 85 minutes) 24.1%
Godzilla vs. Gigan (16:15 out of 89 minutes) 18.6%
Godzilla vs. Megalon (10:30 out of 81 minutes) 12.9%
Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (7:55 out of 84 minutes) 9%
Terror of MechaGodzilla (9:30 out of 83 minutes) 11.5%
The Return of Godzilla (19:00 out of 103 minutes) 18.4%
Godzilla vs. Biollante (16:45 out of 104 minutes) 16.1%
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (14:45 out of 103 minutes) 14.3%
Godzilla vs. Mothra (15:15 out of 102) 15%
Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla '93 (27:00 out of 102) 26.5%
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (19:45 out 108) 18.2%
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (20:15 out of 103) 19.6%
Godzilla 2000 (22:45 out of 107) 21.1%
Godzilla x Megaguirus (20:15 out of 105) 19.2%
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (16:45 out of 105) 15.9%
Godzilla x MechaGodzilla (11:45 out of 88) 13.4%
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (12:45 out of 91) 14.6%
Godzilla: Final Wars (15:00 out of 125) 12%
Godzilla '14 - (10:00 out of 123) 8.1%
*Rounded to the closest 15 seconds.
Percentage of how much screen time Godzilla takes up per movie chart. Again, thanks to Mr. Szmigel. (Right click to enlarge.)
Directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Max Borenstein, Godzilla 2 will hit theaters June 8th, 2018.
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Sources:
Dead Central
