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

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! :)

@ThePike , @Panthalassan , @Durp004, @Talisman, @NerdyBandGeeks 

- Just to update you guys on the reviews for Godzilla 2014 in China. The first wave of audiences have given their early verdict. In 2 days Godzilla has dropped from a rating of 7.4 to 6.7 as of now on China's Douban.com - one of the country's most popular movie sites.

Almost close to 29,000 users have given their rating so far, along with over 16,000 comments on the site. Of the people who rated Godzilla, 10.8% felt the movie was excellent, 31.7% thought it was good, 44.3% of them felt it was average, while 10.4% said it was not good, and a remaining 2.8% said it was mediocre, resulting in the current score of 6.7. 

Oddly, of the comments/reviews that were positive, they mostly contained the keyword 'Ultraman', with many saying that Godzilla is the new incarnation of Ultraman - Savior of Mankind. The association with Ultraman is also mixed with sacarsm and humor saying its time for Ultraman to retire. While comments that were negative blasted the movie mainly for the poor storyline and the minute amount of time the audience actually gets a decent view of Godzilla.  

After the movie's screening, China News Network posted an article yesterday in Chinese stating: ' The New Godzilla - Watch it or not, you'll regret it both ways. '

To sum up the article, the reviewer basically attacks the storyline, saying its illogical and weak, and immeasurable to Pacific Rim. Instead of turning out to be a classic monster-flick, Godzilla transforms into an Ultraman of sorts, destroys the MUTOs, and roars before leaving for the sea, as if telling humanity there's no need for thanks, it's his pleasure. In the end, Godzilla's image as King of the Monsters has been tarnished.

Meanwhile today, China's XinHua News Network posted a rather insulting article with the header: ' Godzilla takes over from Ultraman. King of Monsters becomes the new companion of the wretched humans. '

It's in Chinese: http://news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2014-06/17/c_126629496.htm

To translate it, it bascially says many members of the audience now think Ultraman is about to lose his job as savior of Mankind because it now comes in the form of Godzilla. And Godzilla now proclaims 'I represent Justice!' It adds that if you are watching the movie expecting a big bad lizard to wreak havoc, you will be disappointed because Godzilla has just become Mankind's largest and most reliable sidekick. Some female members of the audience when interviewed said " This Godzilla is simply a hit and makes for the best Pet of the year! When you are happy, you can bring it out for a ride in the sea, and when you are in danger, it braves fire and water to save you. And when its time to rest, reporters can take glamor shots at your pet before it waves goodbye to them. Simply like a Boss! "

And lastly, another entertainment news outlet interviewed Gareth E yesterday, asking him why is Godzilla so 'friendly' towards humans? The article also contains negative remarks about the film.  http://ent.qq.com/a/20140615/027418.htm

THEPIKE- Listen. Godzilla was in know way friendly towards humans in this movie. He just didnt really mind them. And he is in know way ultraman. Just he is a Force of nature who protects the earth, And doesnt care about the humans whatsoever. Remember guys, This is just the first movie of the new age. The sequel is gonna be much better.

lol destroyahx you're being an ass here. i was making an actual valid argument and then you call me naive/troll. and when people call you a hater, you tell them to chill. please explain who should be the one who needs to "chill", and who is the actual troll.

of course gareth didn't make it JUST for godzilla fans, but he definitely put godzilla fans as his priority to please. look, he's trying to satisfy godzilla fans, and then still trying to hit what mainstream audience wants. isn't that what a director should be about? seriously i can't believe you're actually argueing whether he's doing it for the money or not- ANY GODZILLA fan would understand once they have watched the movie. I, for one, has watched it 3 times on imax- thats how crazy I am about godzilla.

its freaking pointless talking to someone who doesn't try to take in whatever you just say, and instantly put a label on it as naivety. also, the only reason why you cannot remember one iconic scene from the movie is because there are WAY too many. that's the problem i guess, usually the grand scale works alot better when you have a snooze fest for 80% of the movie. gareth has tried to pull grand scenes off in too many parts of the movie, but his art direction is still impeccable. the only criticism i have for godzilla is for ATJ's performance (and even to a worse degree, beth olsen).

Moderator(s) you may want to take note: 

Have reported the above comments by @SelimBradley (Suspected clone account of somebody in this forum) with that name-calling and two posts this person made are trolling comments that bear no relevance to the topic except to irritate. Of all places/threads to post comments, it's funny for someone with only 1 post history to make two postings here, and he starts calling people an ass. :)

@SelimBradley:

If what you are saying is not trolling,  then please show me where you got the source that says Gareth Edwards himself stating he directed/produced this movie solely to please his Fans nor does he care how much money this movie makes? And also please tell me where is the source when you say Gareth Edwards is in this not for the money/fame or some other holy reason, when he is merely funded by Legendary and given the nod by the studios and he doesn't run his own movie studio if you realise?

Appreciate if you don't lump what you think and put words into another person's mouth and state that it's Gareth's own words. Thanks. 

DestroyahX- That post i just made was directed at you not pike.

@GorillaGodzilla - Yes, have read your comments. But I guess we can't stop the Chinese from thinking that way, though to be honest I kinda dislike them associating Godzilla with Ultraman and I dun even know why they put Godzilla and Ultraman in the league. In fact even before the Chinese from China said that, I have already seen Malaysians and Hong Kong Chinese too associating Godzilla with Ultraman. 

I think the worst comment I've heard now is them calling Godzilla the Pet of the Year. 

This the problem guys. Its a perecption problem. 

Godzilla has become this gentle beast who is similar to Ultra Man.

I mean, of all things. 

Look back to Godzilla 2000 for a moment. What does Godzilla do after victory?

Does he take a nap? Does he gently go back to the ocean while people cheer?

NO! He goes on a rampage. That is Godzilla. Even the "hero" Godzilla could go on a rampage.

By not having him take the military on directly, you loose much of that feeling about him.

Okay, he didn't take on the military, does he have to also lie down and nap in the dirt?

Did he really need Ford to save him ontop of all of that as well?

How does that set up for the sequels?

Who will save Godzilla in the future battles with stronger monsters? Will he lie down in the dirt again?

Will he again dive beneath aircraft carriers and have a military escort?

Things like that go a long way and it went and made Godzilla much less then what he could have been.

Talisman- Let me educate your, "Smash brain brain." Godzilla in the old movies, Wait for it Fell down and took NAPS TO HEAL HIMSELF TO. Go watch the old movies and see your SMASH AND BASHIN LIZARD. He naps heals himself and gets back up and fights. Except in this one he falls over because of getting smashed on the back by a building, In the old ones he got pooped on by hedorah. Also at the end after he did one of the most epic things ever the ATOMIC KISS he was so burnt out after swimming to hawaii then san fransico and nevada he fell down rested for a few hours gets back up walks away like a boss and goes away, Just like in Godzilla vs the smog monster. The napping is his regeneration factor Not falling in the dirt you dumby. Read this And understand it your idiotic perifrian.

Talisman- The millitary was of no threat or care to godzilla he didnt mind the ships there because he knew they wore nothing against him and he went under the carrier because, Think about it. Your trying to get to a destination do you want to slam into something? really? Take some therapy and cure your smash and bash brain so we can have a civilised conversation and talk like adults about how cool this movie was.

ALSO FORD NEVER SAVED HIM??

Guys, Chinese audience perception aside, there's another piece of update on the US Box-Office. Godzilla is down one spot this week in the US at #7. The past Friday to Sunday, 13th to 15th June combined sales is at $3.2 million, which is an average of about $1 million. 

For the beginning of this week Monday 16/6, Godzilla brought in $385,000. For a day-to-day comparison, what Godzilla makes per day, X-men is still making at least 2-3 times as much. I also noted that Godzilla initially opened to over 3,900 cinema screens across US, similar to X-Men but now it is down to 2,088. 

Let me provide a simple calculation below by comparing Godzilla to X-men and Neighbours which each debuted 1 week apart:

X-Men Days of Future Past: (25 day debut)

(Initial) 4001 screens (To date) 3042 - Reduction of 959 screens = Average loss of 38 screens per day. 

Godzilla: (32 day debut)

(Initial) 3952 screens (To date) 2088 - Reduction of 1864 screens = Average loss of 58 screens per day. 

Neighbours: (39 day debut)

(Initial) 3311 (To date) 1896 - Reduction of 1415 screens = Average loss of 36 screens per day. 

GORILLAGODZILLA77897

This is perception and its the first movie. You want to establish Godzilla as awesome,

as "The King of the Monsters" not "King of the sleepers"

IN the old movies, Godzilla upon victory doesn't usually stumble fall down and take a nap

in the dirt. Godzilla 2000, he went on a rampage. Godzilla vs Gigan he went to the ocean and swam away. In that he had blood pouring out of his head.

In Raids Again, he had a very lengthy battle and still had the will to keep on fighting.

Saving Godzilla should have been in the 3rd movie.

What happens now? Godzilla only faces monsters weaker than the Mutos?

Or are you advocating he is to be saved in each movie?

Moroever, how did the Godzilla species ever survive? Two Mutos had Godzilla at their mercy. Seeing the number of eggs, it seems to me that they would vastly outnumber the Godzilla species and Godzilla couldn't really handle two of them.

So now instead of "The King of the Monsters" we have a monster that when facing strong opponents must rely on human help.

Either that or the sequels must use weaker creatures. Which kinda sucks imho.

Its also apparent that he will need his nap time right after battles so we can throw out his rampage after victory as in Godzilla 2000.

Godzilla 2014 needed Ford to save him

Godzilla 2014 needed Ford to distract the Muto for the behind the back attack

Godzilla 2014 had to lie in the dirt right after.

Sorry man, that just doesn't sit well with me. That is not how you establish something as being "The King of the monsters" or "Natures revenge"

I didn't wait all these years to start glorifying that type of Godzilla.

Sure Godzilla needed human help under certain situations with monsters of incredible power like Ghidorah, but not in all the flims and certainly NOT IN THE FIRST FILM.

save that type of stuff for the sequels as the monsters become stronger.

Dood did i not jsut say he falls over to use his healing factor! And like i said this Godzilla DOESNT GIVE A FREAKING DAMN ABOUT HUMANS. Thats why he doesnt destroy them. When he falls over he regenerates not a nap. Look up some godzilla history and stop basing it off of Godzilla 2000 Which wasnt that good, It was a Smash and Bash film.

Destroyah-x- Thanks for all the useful info. I think you're trying to give a helpful perspective and some people are just thumbing their noses at what seems pretty clear. I'm not arguing with anyone anyomre. It's starting to get a little absurd I think and I don't feel like getting sucked into it any more than I already have been. The core of your argument is correct. The numbers tell an important story. If you should happen to keep us updated on the box office, I will be reading with interest.

Godzilla also isn't a sequel. X-Men has 7 films under their belt. Yes, Godzilla has... 28? 29? But those really don't count. Not in the majority of the world. That hurts it a bit.

But you're right on most every other account. The movie was recieved luke warmly. A poor script that jumped around with only stereo typical characters as opposed to real character arcs or development. The teases of what we really came to see certainly didn't help. Still, even after the '98 debacle, we can't seem to make a Godzilla movie.

Wolfguy Just no, Please no Dont even compare this one to 98. THIS IS A ACTUALL GODZILLA FILM. THIS FORUM SECTION SHOULD BE CALLED THE HATER ROW I MEAN GOD. The movie was great in its own way. It wasnt meant to be a SMASH AND BASH FILM HOW MANY DANG TIMES MUST I SAY THAT. You all just wanted a film with know story and just godzilla fighting. Every seen Godzilla was in was perfect AND THIS IS JUST 1 FILM WAIT FOR THE SEQUELS. Consider this is like the intro of a new video game doesnt show to much But wait until you get in that game WOO.

Ok here goes. On behalf of all the members who have responded to this thread, this is my message and last reminder to you @GorillaGodzilla:

1. Yes, we already get it. You think Godzilla 2014 is great, you understand where Gareth Edwards is coming from and how he directs the movie. Good for you but this is your perception, and you need to understand that not everyone has that same perception nor should they follow what you think. That's why there's a term called an 'Opinion' and that's why we have a place called a 'Forum' isn't it? Nobody is stopping you from thinking what you want, but it appears your responses to the members here are starting to get aggressive and personal here, so you need to Cool it. By the way using a lot of Caps in your words is not going to make your argument any better or convincing. Thank you.

2. You think Godzilla 2014 deserves to be one of the best movies and you are trying to convince others through your arguments in this thread. Good for you, but not everyone is convinced. No, not even the millions out there who watched Godzilla. The fact remains, I have provided the statistics and Box-office numbers so far. There is simply no denying that Godzilla is indeed under-performing ever since it launched with an explosive start. If audiences are indeed thinking along the same line as you, why are the sales numbers not telling the story? Has it occured to you that the audiences are not convinced with Gareth Edward's direction? If Godzilla 2014 is not convincing them enough, its not your fault, it's lies with Gareth's inability to convince them well enough, and audiences just do not agree well enough to recommend the movie to those around them. While Godzilla has crossed the $450 million mark to date, X-Men and Spider-Man individually are already hitting $700 million. Worst thing is Godzilla opened bigger than both the latter in the first week. We won't deny the box-office numbers to tell the story, there's also no denying that the average reduction of screens per day on Godzilla is happening faster than usual. So why are cinema screens shutting out the movie faster than usual if Godzilla is bringing in money for them, unless its not because patrons are giving the movie a miss? 

3. And lastly, relax man. The fact that people like us here responding in this thread or this forum altogether is not for nothing. We are fans of Godzilla, and who doesn't want the movie to make a Billion dollars? We are just unhappy that Gareth Edwards squandered the opportunity given to him to make Godzilla a true-epic, when the last time we saw Godzilla on the big-screen was 16 years ago. We didn't wait 16 years just to settle for a film that had the right qualities and cast but wrong direction, only to end up making less than $600 million dollars. The long-wait alone is already a strong reason for people to catch Godzilla, which is why Godzilla is Crushing the box-office in the first week because there was so much, so much hype. But the after the first-wave of audiences? Not crushing anymore. Disastrous. What happened? Come on, the King of Monsters losing out to a small man in a spidey-costume and some X-mutants? That's an insult.

DESTROYAH-X 

Very well said. I think it is high time for some fans to realize that there are a number of 

Godzilla fans who were not happy with this, and are not just 'haters'. 

I do believe the numbers are telling. The movie had the most interest, 

it had the greatest 'wave' to ride for success and it fell apart. That responsibility sits squarely on the director's shoulders.

The numbers don't lie. It is true that a lot of movies experienced a drop off this year,

but Godzilla had the largest and movies like X-men have already passed it at the box office despite having less on the opening.

I honestly believe that Legendary knew they had a dud, and marketed in a certain way, to get as many people into the theater as possible.

Just to add one more point.

The trailers for this movie -Teased the Mutos

The trailers showed -Godzilla

The movie itself-teased Godzilla

The movie itself-showed the Mutos

Your left scratching your head. Godzilla was already shown in the trailer! Its obvious that this was a marketing ploy to get in as many people as they could.

Who builds tension in a movie by hiding the creature you already shown in your trailers??