Gareth Edwards: How soon Production for Godzilla Sequel begins Depends on China

Thegman123- Peter Jackson or Guillermo del Toro. Any day of the week. I LOVE Godzilla. I have all my life. But the LOTR triliogy is written and directed better than G14. And even though Pacific Rim gets alot of crap, it's direction is better than G13, it's action is WAY better than G14, and quite franky, much of it's story is better than G14. If there was some better acting, more self motivated kaiju(as opposed to them mearly being weapons,) and you got rid of some of the outlandish glitz, it would be much better than G14 as a Kaiju flick. I anything makes G14 better, it's that it has a little bit of Godzilla in it. I'm not even sure that helps all that much since you don't really get all that much.

Or give me any director who has directed a Japanese Godzilla movie, except Ryyuhei Kitamura(didn't care for Final wars-too corny.)  Takao Okawara (G2000) or  Shusuke Kaneko( G-KG-M-AOMA). They understand how a Godzilla movie should roll. They have just lacked the money for the great effects.

What I'm curious to know is what makes Edwards so special that only HE can direct a Godzilla movie. He's your idea of of someone paying respct to the character? The main Character, beloved and classic Godzilla has less then 10 MINUTES face time in the entire 2 hour film! That's love? That's respect? And yes, I timed it based on a bootleg on this site. 8 minutes during the fight(Of which I included some lone MUTO action as well, so it's less.) And I generously estimated the rest. So it may be less in total, although I wouldn't add his back in the water. Think about it...if they would have showed a couple clips of the battle in the trailer, they would have showed you much of what you get of actual fighting in the film, which isn't much. That's respect? No way! He and his team designed a good looking Godzilla, which they get credit for. If they want to respect the character and the fans, let us have a good look at it.

Nerdybandgeeks-Thanks for being a person who can discuss the finer points without sounding kooky. I think Edwards COULD HAVE done a good job, and he does deliver some nice visuals, a serious tone, and a good Godzilla design. And I agree that he needs some experience, but more importantly, he needs productive feedback/criticism. Because really, for as disappointed as I was in this film, it wouldn't have taken that much more to make it better.Hell, double the Godzilla time, and I'm good.  Now, If Edwards wants to stick to his guns for the sequel, then he's not the man. If he want's to learn his lesson and give the people more of what they want and stop trying to BS us with all his lofty filmaking crap, then I'm willing to have an open mind.

As for Gore Verbinski, I liked the first two POTC films, so why not. So long as who ever is doing it keeps it serious and has a good Godzilla design that dominates the movie. That's what I want to see.

@ThePike - To each his own. In my opinion, if some people feel so strongly about the movie and they love it 100%, good for them. I am not stopping them nor can I disagree with them because its what they think. But to me, these sentiments are clearly not echoed or reflected by the rest of the mainstream audience, which is why we get a Godzilla that has yet to even break past $450 million to date, while X-Men is already doing well over $650 million despite opening 1 week later than Godzilla. Going forward, X-Men should have no problem edging beyond $700 - $750 million. Which begs the question: Why can't Godzilla do it? It generated equally as much hype as the X-men or even Spider-man even before screening. It had an even more explosive start than X-Men or even Spider-Man 2, but heck, even Spider-Man 2 now is making nearly $700 million in combined total sales. 

Its strange isn't it? Godzilla, X-Men and Spider-Man 2 each opened very well, but fast forward now, suddenly Godzilla is trailing them by over $200 million ? Something must be wrong isn't it? It seems people just don't like what they get from Gareth Edwards' style of direction for this movie and they also felt cheated by the marketing for Godzilla. And even with China in the equation, it still remains to be seen if Godzilla can get past $100 million there because it may falter like what has happened in the US and overseas markets. We cannot assume that just because Pacific Rim made $110 million in China, then Godzilla would surely make more than that.

And you are right, Gareth tries to capture that magic by emulating scenes from a gazillion inspired movies but never has one hallmark of his own. The only familiar trick from Gareth I see here is the elusiveness like how he hides things in 'Monsters', which is not a great movie btw. I can name at least 10 movies that Gareth drew inspiration from in creating his scenes in this movie. Which is why I said it felt like a cut-and-paste movie. 

So in the end, for me, its the right monsters, the right effects, the right cast, but inappropriate style of direction. 

If you didnt think the movie was good enough why did you post something about sequel news on the Godzilla 2014 section! This thing should be in the sequel news section. And also we are talking about sequels not G 14 So i dont know how this turned into a hater arguement.

Well jeez, I wouldn't go that far at all. The film was fantastic, and for a newbie Gareth has made a film eons better than most nowadays directors. And really? No memorable scenes? Nope, sorry if someone parodied that HALO jump scene, everyone would know where it's from. Even if it's not iconic like the HALO jump scene you've still got Godzilla's badass first appearance, the bridge scene, the Mutos escape scene, the final battle, etc. The film is quite memorable and from a movie making stand point it's a great film.

The point of criticism is to help the artist improve, which is why Gareth needs to take that in account. The negatives I mentioned are what keep his film from being near perfect and exactly what the audience wants. It's simple, show the airport scene with at least a 2 minute fight, make the second act more interesting, and show more character development and boom! 10/10 film.

To be quite blunt, if Gareth wasn't directing I wouldn't be as excited for the sequel. But, like I said, he needs to improve through the film's critiques if he wants the sequel to be better.

@Gorillagodzilla - This topic is right where it is because it's not just news concerning the sequel but the eventual sales of Godzilla 2014 in China that determines how soon work starts on the next movie. 

And also you need to chill. Just because someone says something not so nice about Godzilla 2014 does not give you the right to label one as a hater. How this is considered an argument to you is also puzzling. Mature up and understand that when people in this forum criticise, they do so in the interest of seeing improvements made.

My prediction. Movie starts really well, people see that it isn't really about Godzilla, the movie numbers have a major decline next week. 

If Edwards is blind to that fact, and takes nothing like that into account, then I give up.

I agree with Destroyah, the film needs a new director and a new direction. 

The Pike,

I am totally on your side.

To me Edwards went out of his way not to show respect. Sure, a few things were in there,

almost like they were in there as an afterthought.

Gareth Edwards' vision is a Godzilla that is totally not awesome, but rather similiar to "Godzilla" in a token fashion, to please some of the fans.

I am not really into seeing Godzilla needing some more human help and taking naps after large battles. I'll plass.

Instinctive Gigan-I totally agree with the fact that I hope if Edwards is to continue his directing duties then he should have his ears open in hopes of improving. And I agree with you on what could have made this film much better. Where I part ways is that much of what you say is memorable are only more memorable for being more annoyigly teasing than being good. The HALO jump was cool visually, but that's it. It doesn't do anything. It's just a cool looking travel scene. And to be honest, I hated the view from the goggles. The airport could be great. I was pumped. Then cut! What a let down. But you're right, another two minutes and that ones a winner. The bridge - another let down. Some more interaction with Godzilla and the military and that one's much better as well. But another cut away. The MUTO escape was good. Tension, destruction, fear. Nicely done. The final fight is too franetic too much of the time to be memorable. They gotta stick with some shots and make them count a little bit more. Anyway, although I am very sad to say that I didn't feel the need to run out and see it again, I do look forward to giving it a secong go on Blu-Ray. Who knows, maybe I'll change my tune:-)

ThePIKE- You dont understand. he wasnt suppose to be fighting the millitary in this movie. Literally everything they wore throwing at him wasnt doing JACK. The bridge scene was perfect. Thepike see the movie a second time visually take it in, Every scene was perfect.

DestroyahX- I get your point

Gorillagodzilla-Yes I do. It's lazy filmaking. He doesn't fight the military because that's how they wrote it. They could have very well wrote in even a short battle to show our fear and ineffectiveness. And everything they were throwing at him wasn't that much. And how were we to know anyway? Shortly after the misstles start hitting him, they cut away, so you don't get a feel for the results one way or the other. Far from  perfect.

Gotta weigh in.  China will show a drop-off too, because the movie is just OK.  The script issues are absolutely unforgivable.  

And also!  I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing about how 'too much action kills a movie", which is some assumption based on Transformers.  Yeah, those movies kinda suck, but Transformers are machines that all sorta look alike and a pile of rubble or machine parts also look alike, so the battles just eventually turn into this endless, rolling shrapnel pile.  But that's an issue of two things: characters, and pacing.  We don't care about any of the transformers, so when they smash eachother to bits, it literally means nothing.  And you can pull off plenty of action as long as its paced well with character bits, which Transformers almost never was.

Godzilla could stand alone for ten minutes, just smelling the ocean breeze, and I would enjoy watching it.  ITs not action I want, though that would've been nice, it was more time with Godzilla.  I haven't seen him in ten years!  I wanna hang out!  But no, cinematic tension, or some impersonation of it, dictates that Godzilla has to just remain offscreen almost the whole time, because we 'might get bored' with too much of him.  Yeah...

Panthalassan-Your last paragraph says it better than I heard before!

THEPIKE- let me explain this to your, "Smash and Bash brain." This movie Godzilla was....Dont have a heartattack...Good. He had no intentions on killing or doing anything to humans. It wasnt lazy wrighting it was brilliant. He because the bombs were gonna hit the bridge rose up from the water and blocked it with his seemingly impenitrible Spines. Even when the millitary was firing at him it just felt like fly bites, he roared not out of anger but of annoyance and seeing how ignorant Man is, "By the way im talking about the bridge scene." You Pike just wanted to see him Destroy everything kill the city destroy everyone for know apparent reason, Not saying thats not cool, But that is the defintion of lazy wrighting. I can imagine this, "Oh i ate to much i cant think, Oh i got an idea lets have him DESTROY STUFF THAT WILL GET THE KIDS COMING. which exactly is what you are. a BABY

@Gorillagodzilla77897

I feel like you're missing the point I'm sure the reason for Thepike expecting Godzilla to duke it out with the military, not be the savior, was because that's not what the trailers and director showed the movie to be. Whatever your sentiments on the movie and how good it was, I don't think there's any logical argument that the advertisements and words from the director weren't misleading. Scenes in trailers that showed just Godzilla surrounded by destruction were changed in the actual movie to encompass the muto with him.

The main two culprits is the scene with the bay doors closing and in the trailer it just showed Godzilla while in the movie he was battling the Muto. This is actually a big deal as not only did that trailer come out very close to the movie's opening thus it makes no sense to show an altered scene but this scene in the trailer deplicts as though everyone is running just from Godzilla. He is the one responsible for the destruction, he's the one we fear, when in the movie those feelings were never there. 

The second one, which isn't as bad as the first if only because it came out months before the movie was done was the Halo jump scene in the reveal trailer. In the scene you see a destroyed city, and walking amongst the rubble just Godzilla. The soldiers are dropping in on Godzilla, or at least close thus making it seem like the monster has a lot to do with the destruction when in reality it was once again the mutos.

As I said he didn't want it just to have it he wanted it because that's what the traielrs deplicted and the director saying. If you can find one interview where Gareth Edwards says Godzilla will play the hero and save everyone the please show it to me, because every review I remember seeing Gareth addresses Godzilla as out retribution and punishment, but can I ask when did Godzilla ever do anything antagonistic in this movie? Ships sailed beside him peacefully, There was never terror when he came, he was always the savior, and that's fine, but not when the director went out of his was to release misleading information on this title character in such a big way.

GorillaGodzilla-I'm not sure why I'm wasting my time with you, but here it goes....I was one of the first people on these boards who said that I didn't mind that Godzilla was heroic in this movie. In fact, I kind of like it. However, there is nothing in this movie that idicates Godzilla feelings towards humans, other than not stomping on them. But he sure did kill more than a few with his tsunami. And as for the bridge, there is no indication that he was protecting the humans from the missles. In fact, most people believe it was coincidental. Now, it might be nice to know the answer, but the scene is cut before you can figure out what is happening one way or the other. You know what I call that? LAZY WRITING! You understand that "Peace and love harmonious Godzilla brain?" ....Good. The problem here is you are just guessing. Everyone is guessing. Not in a "Hey, it's fun to figure this out," sort of way, but in a "what the hell is going on here," sort of way.

But lets asume that's not a factor...Well, Most Godzilla movies are based on the premise that when these giant monsters clash, bad things happen. Cities are destroyed, Godzilla being a hero or not. That's the drama. That's the fear. And in this movie, thats whats missing. We get a short scene with a moderate amount of destuction. This movie should be a specticle! We should fear the effects of these monsters hashing it out in the city. Instead, we get but a small taste of the scale of this potential horror. I mean, for goodness sakes, we got more urban destruction in the "Man of Steel!" -which I thought was overkill actually- But you know what, you had a feeling of dread and danger that you NEVER feel in Godzilla.

As for being a baby...I sure hope my wife doesn't find out. That might blow a really good thing with a really gorgeous lady....All this time she's been under the usumption that I'm quite a manly man. Then again, she didn't care for the movie either, so maybe she's a baby too. Well, at least you sound very adult.

@Durp004-Thanks my friend. Some people just don't to seem to get that this movie did not deliver what was promised.

@ThePike , @Panthalassan , @Durp004, @Talisman

- Thanks for weighing in with your comments, and knowing that the numbers are really doing the talking here to tell us how well audiences are liking the story of this new Godzilla movie. Again as I reiterate, to each his own in terms of opinions about the show. They can think what they want, but what we should not deny here is that Godzilla is indeed trailing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men Days of Future Past individually by over $200 - $250 million currently in overall sales despite opening bigger (Yes, BIGGER) than both the latter. But Godzilla isn't quite catching up after opening bigger, and with Spider-man 2 and X-Men are already standing near $700 million each,  the sales numbers continue to grow even as Godzilla tries to break $500 million.

Which begs the question: What happened to  the Godzilla which enjoyed so much hype in the beginning? Like @Durp004 pointed out, it was the marketing. And you know, audiences don't like feeling cheated by things represented in the trailers but they don't get it in the actual movie. Put Gareth Edward as the director for the sequel? No thanks, audiences have been bitten before, they will be wary. @Panthalassan is right too, we would rather have extra 10 minutes of Godzilla even just smelling the air or taking a stroll in the park, we would trade that ANYTIME than to see more boring army dudes running around and scenes cutting to news footages airing the fight scenes. Come on, the last time we see Godzilla on the big screen was 16 years ago. We didn't wait 16 years just to see Ford Brody all the time, while Godzilla plays cameo here and pops up, plays hide-and-seek and then says goodbye to San Francisco. 

Latest China Box-Office Update: I just want to update you folks, right now in China, the entertainment news has again trumpeted Godzilla's explosive opening as usual like what has happened in the US and overseas. Saying Godzilla has crushed the box-office with a whopping $38.4 Million in the first weekend in China through Friday to Sunday. This puts Godzilla only $71 million short of achieving what Pacific Rim made in China. 

Assuming Godzilla is going to continue with that exponential growth, I say it should be able to beat $110 million in less than 3 weeks. But right now, my guess is, like what happened in the US and foreign markets, Godzilla will slump after the first wave of audiences have given their verdict. Strange isn't it that Godzilla is crushing the box-office in the first week, but he stops crushing after the second week onwards. Even in my home country here, Godzilla has been reduced to a B-grade slot with less than 15 cinemas screening Godzilla countrywide. So we will be looking at how the Chinese market reacts after this first weekend. 

Oh yes, and to add on by the way, movie studios are only recouping 25% of how much they earn in China based on the revenue share set-up. Yes, only 1/4 of what they earn, which sucks if that's the case. 

The main problem I see with Gareth being the director again is, as I said, he mislead the masses in interviews about the movie. This means either 1. He actually believed that Godzilla in that movie was some sort of retribution, or 2. He just mislead the general audience in an attempt to not give away the story for the movie and keep the mutos who I think most would argue are the real retribution.

If the answer really is 1 and he believes that Godzilla was retribution I don't want him to come back as director as that's the mentality that basically says, "I'm right and everyone, or at least the majority just missed what I was trying to say and that's on them." 

If the answer is 2 I think he seriously needs to reevaluate how he builds moment and hype as I completely disagree with misleading people to try to hide a plot point that isn't evne that important.

@Destroyah-X, I agree, the numbers will do the talking, in the end, it's about the general public. The sales will definiately drop because of people not seeing what they expected from the trailers, which is what they wanted to see.

But overall, the movie to me was a success, financially or not. Because now two of my friends are now into Godzilla. I felt very giddy in the theater when Godzilla's spines started glowing, because one person I was with was like "what's happening? What's going on? Oh Lord. *Boooom! Atomic breath* Oh lordy! I didn't know he did that!"

Anyways, the point is not the "lazy writing" (I wouldn't call it lazy, more, under-developed) or "good visuals" or "memorable scenes" or "more time with Godzilla." It's the snowball of all these things, whether they are right or not, into the movie we know as Godzilla 2014, and whether or not it will succeed in China, the country with the most people.

sorry if nothing I say makes sense, it's almost midnight here and it's too hot in my room to sleep, so I'm forced to do the internet thing

NERDYBANDGEEKS - Oh, !'m so very sorry you can't sleep! :( That being said, you inability to rest has provided us with yet more interesting conversation! :)