Well it's official, WB has released a press release and website announcing the DVD/Bluray release of Godzilla '14.

http://apps.warnerbros.com/godzillamovie/retailer_tab/

Info will be updated soon.

Hi all,

Long time fan of the franchise planning on building my own collection of the movies and this thread has been nothing but incredily helpful in sifting through all of the various options. Thank you Gman and all the other contributors!

Looking at the titles Sony has the rights to and the way they are structuring their Toho Collection I would imagine with the news of Echo no longer printing copies of GvBio and Return of G as currently unavailable would anyone be surprised if Sony makes a push for both? If Toho would give them the rights they would be completing both the Heisei and Millenium series here in the US. Which I would imagine would only increase the value of their sets they are offering. Just a thought, what do you guys think?

Spadra,
Welcome to the forums. I'm glad you've found this useful. You may also want to check out this thread for movies currently on the market:

http://www.godzilla-movies.com/community/forums/topic/32276

As for Sony picking up Godzilla vs. Biollante and The Return of Godzilla, I don't think Godzilla vs. Biollante will be possible. Although the Echobridge disc is going out of print, Mirimax still owns the North American distribution rights to Godzilla vs. Biollante and will continue to for several more years. (Mirimax was only releasing the movie through Echobridge.)

In 2011 Mirimax entered a Home Video liscensing agreement with Lionsgate Entertainment. That's why there's a chance these rumors of a new Godzilla vs. Biollante disc, being released through Lionsgate, is a possibility.

The Return of Godzilla's rights issues won't be resolved this year. Since Sony hasn't bought rights to Godzilla films in ten years (letting some of those rights lapse) I doubt they have any interest in it-- Or are even aware it exists. Hope that helps.

MINOR UPDATE: I've added box art and information about the Godzilla '14 release. And I've moved Warner Bros., Sony and Media Blasters to the top since they're the distributors with the latest films.

Thanks for the link Gman2887! Also the history lesson. Very interesting to learn after all this time that Sony has had the rights to certain Godzilla titles that they would try and release their collection on Blu Ray after letting the rights to other titles lapse. It is an example of a company trying to turn a quick profit. "Godzilla '14 was just released in theaters? I bet this would be an excellent time to release the films we have the rights to on Blu Ray!" The fact that Sony would be releasing a Blu Ray collection of the entire Godzilla Millenium series and a partially completed Heisei era collection is most likely lost upon them. Like you said,"Since Sony hasn't bought rights to Godzilla films in ten years (letting some of those rights lapse) I doubt they have any interest in it-- Or are even aware it exists. Hope that helps." Would also explain some of the groupings for the Blu Rays. Oh well best to just grab them and enjoy!

Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. The only reason Sony is releasing these is to cash in on the new film. But then again that's also the same game most of these companies are playing by Godzilla movies and other films in the same genre. (Gamera, King Kong, Mothra...)

Ten years ago, Sony had the rights to Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla. They let their rights to all of those movies lapse and only remembered to re-new their Heisei and Millennium titles. (Which they'll have until 2017 at the very, very least before they have to renew them.)

So Kraken picked up three of those titles and Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla are either still up for grabs or have been sold to a distributor and nothing has been announced yet.

As for some of Sony's Bluray groupings, I think they mostly got the order right, it's simply Godzilla 2000 that's thrown a wrench into everything. Sony made so many alterations to the American cut of Godzilla 2000, and spent the most money on it for a theatrical opening, that they felt the need to give it a nice standalone release.

Apparently Lions Gate is re-releasing Godzilla vs Biollante on DVD and Blu-ray!  I saw it posted on Toho Kingdom.  More info as I find it.

@Danzilla93: hmm, I thought it's already mentioned here earlier, right? ;)I'm just awaiting for the info regarding the content, particuarly the special features.

Btw, I'm curious about the Japanese blu ray of Biollante.. is the 2014 BR version a straight re-issue of the 2009 BR version? Or does it have different video remastering? The picture quality seem to be an issue in US BR version, which said to be using Toho's master. Anyone knows?

Adrian,
Pardon if I'm vague with this one, because the answer is about TV settings which are outside my norm.

The answer is there's no issues with the Godzilla vs. Biollante Toho master (other than the typical complaints of grain, sharpness...etc...), but because Japanese HD television pre-sets are different than North American pre-sets, the Echobridge Biollante bluray looks a little grey and muddled.

Companies like Sony fixed this issue with Toho masters, but Echobridge and Media Blasters did not. Thus, in order to get the best possible picture out of Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Biollante (and probably Godzilla vs. Megalon), you have to play with the television settings.

There's a more detailed, specific explaination about Japanese bluray discs and their television presets, but that's more or less the jist.

Dang!!! So many updates while i have been out. :p

Can't wait to get my 2 disc special edditon dvd in the mail on the godzilla 2014 movie i pre ordered from amazon. :)

Hi Gman...thanks for the reply. It makes sense now. I think the "Destroy All Monsters" blu ray suffers the same, as reviewed at http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare3/destroyallmosters.htm
Back to Biollante, Amazon has added a cover to the Lions Gate version page. It is exactly the same as Echo Bridge version, except the "First Time on Blu Ray" writing has been removed. Let's hope that this happens for real.

Same cover too, huh? Yeah I don't see Echobridge's name anywhere on it. Interesting. Looks like this may be the exact same disc Echobridge put out...

It could also be a temp cover, but we'll see.

Quick update but I have found a Target Exclusive box cover for Godzilla 2014.

^Nice. I'll add that and the Godzilla vs. Biollante info soon. I'm looking forward to seeing the Best Buy Exclusive cover. Rumor has it that will be a steelcase version. If I don't like the steelcase cover, I may spring for the Target version.

I've done a little house keeping. All of the released DVDs/Bluray have been removed. If you wish to look at DVD/Bluray that are CURRENTLY released, please go here:

List of Godzilla and Related DVD/Bluray Currently Available

In the meantime, Lionsgate's Godzilla vs. Biollante re-release has been posted and the Target version of Godzilla '14 has as well. The Target version has an exclusive special feature not available on any other version of the movie called, Rebirth of an Icon.

Found a Metalpack from Best Buy. Could not for the life of me insert the freaking picture for you guys, It has "Press Here" on the upper left corner, a roar maybe? no description at all. Here's the link:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/godzilla-metalpak-blu-ray-dvd-uv-digital-copy/25599385.p?id=3276600&skuId=25599385&st=godzilla%20blu-ray&lp=1&cp=1

If the link don't work can someone please do a quick walk-through of adding a pic to a post please!

Found it on amazon also, It's a limited edition that has embossed artwork and yup! The iconic roar! I think I'll spring for this one. Also has anybody heard about a ultraviolet pre-release? They did it with Transcendence and divergent, releaseded them digitally about three weeks earlier than the dics.

Thanks Wraith,
I saw this last night, but couldn't tell if it was a Best Buy exclusive or not. I'm torn now. I love Metalpaks, but I like the Target cover and extra featurette more.... I've got time to mull it over I suppose.

And I thought I saw the digital release was happening this month, but I can't find a source right now to back that up.

All that's left is the Japanese version of "King Kong vs Godzilla", and "The Return of Godzilla". 

I did a little digging after work and found on the bottom of the VUDU pre-order page: Expected Aug 26. Three weeks before the disc. This irks the crap out of me to make the fans double dip. I was kind of hopeing they wouldn't do this with G2014. They are  using this tactic to push the digital format I guess. What irks me even worse though is knowing I'll most likely get it.......sigh:(

I typically ignore digital releases. I probably shouldn't considering that's where home video distribution is heading in the not-too-distant future, but I simply don't pay it any mind for the time being. I for one won't be viewing the movie until I have the physical release in hand.

Any news on the Ultimate Version as a UK release ?

its the one with the statue that is featured on the German Amazon site

So far the Godzilla statue release is a German exclusive.

The UK release will be a standard version and a 3D version. UK won't see Godzilla '14 on DVD/Bluray until October 27th, so that leaves plenty of time for possible exclusive editions to crop up.

Hi Gman, just curious, is there any version of Godzilla 2014 that contains only blu-ray? Outside US versions maybe? I personally don't need the DVD, but it seems all options are at least "Blu Ray + DVD". It makes the price slightly more expensive.

Ardian: Ive been searching for a while for you but found nothing but the combo packs. Your most likely going to have to wait a couple months past the first release before a blu only comes out. Best bet would be to snap it up within the first couple days when it's on sale. I too see no point to these combo packs. We all bought bluray players because we don't want dvds anymore yet they force them on us this way.........

Adrian,
The UK version has Bluray and Ultraviolet only. Until (and if) Legendary re-releases the film with Bluray only you're out of luck as far as Region 1 goes.

Wraith,
DVDs still outsell Bluray today. It's not that distributors are forcing DVDs on people, they're trying to force Bluray on customers. With the added incentive that a specific release comes with both, DVD and Bluray it prompts buyers to shell out more dough. Plus, if they decide to upgrade to a BD player later then they'll have the Bluray/DVD combo on hand. Also many people own Bluray players, but have DVD-only players hooked up in other rooms. So it's convenient to include both.

In truth most DVD/Bluray combos aren't much more expensive than Bluray only releases, so I don't think it's that big of a deal.

Gman, your right and I can't argue with that. I always snap them up within the first couple days and the price is the same as the dvd alone. So cheerfully withdrawn.

Gman I forgot to ask about the two upcoming mediablaster blus. Any info if they are on track after the last delay? Their page hasn't been updated since july 17.

@gman2887,

If you see this please check your scified inbox. :)

Wraith,
As best as anyone can tell they're still on track. But because Media Blasters is so small and hardly communicates with anyone no one can be sure. (It seems like they make most of their announcements on their facebook page after fans have discovered something amiss.) When it comes to Media Blasters my most helpful advice is hope for the best, brace for the worst.

Ben,
On it.

Their facebook was the page I was talking about, getting kind of worried because still no shipping estimate from amazon and it's a little more than two weeks from release. That in itself is a red flag.

Beware of the Wal-Mart Preorder card! Saw it yesterday and was waiting at the checkout when I started reading it. It was like a gift card and you buy it and then they normally send you the disc in the mail upon release. This one (the only Godzilla in the display) is DIGITAL COPY ONLY. $20-$25 for Digital copy is crazy! Pay the same price for the blu-ray and get the UV included. FYI to the VUDU/Flixster users, Godzilla is available Aug. 26th digital only. The Bluray/dvd are still September 16th.

^Ouch. What a rip. And borderline scheme. Thanks for the heads up Wraith.

Godzilla 2014 might be available on itunes here before to long.

Kieth Aiken at SciFi Japan got advanced copies Sony's upcoming batch. He says the discs are minor improvements over the last batch a couple of months ago.

The extras are exactly as they say, but with Godzilla 2000 only the Japanese trailer is included. Which is a shame because the US trailer is pretty fun.

The GMK subtitles are apparently very similar to the DVD release from the early 2000s, unfortunately. But there are changes. The biggest change is the infamous subtitle goof when Tachibana and his partner celebrate when they accidently King Ghidorah under water. "Excellent!" was the original subtitle. It has now been changed to, "F--k!" and it's uncensored. So that's... interesting...

I'll try to contain my shock, but Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon have now been delayed until September 2nd.

Page updated, although I have my doubts we'll see them by September 2nd or next month at all.

Who didn't see that coming?

I'm just glad I got them both on DVD when they first released them.  I'm not holding out hopes for them actually releasing the blu-rays within the year.  And I hope they don't pick up the rights to Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

I read an artical dated around the end of 2012 I think that stated media blasters had around 15-16 people on full time staff and laid off all but six. Whenever some error happens with their dics it's always because "they went out of house" with the encoding or something in those lines. They never step up and take responsibility for their products. I've been reading their facebook page and it seems all their attention is focused on making some beyond cheesy b-movie. Numerous unanswered complaints. Their websites are all down now too. I really think they are almost done, ready to fold. Canceling my amazon order.

According to Media Blaster's facebook page, Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon are shipping to stores today.

Surprise?

And they said to order now before they sell out again.  I guess I'll preorder just in case this is the real deal.  I am NOT missing out on getting these on blu-ray. 

Amazon still lists the release date for both as Sept. 2nd.  Do you think that means Media Blasters hasn't actually shipped yet or that Amazon simply hasn't updated the pages yet?  How long does it normally take for something to become available on Amazon after it's shipped to them?