You have to hand it to Godzilla – he doesn’t look 70. The greatest movie monster of all time continues to age oh-so-gracefully. And given the Oscar success of the astonishing Godzilla Minus One, and the gleefully colourful carnage of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, you could even say the radioactive lizard is at the peak of his powers right now. Since the original Godzilla was released back in 1954, it’s now officially been seven decades since he first stomped his way to big-screen glory – and to celebrate, Japanese studio Toho has released an epic tribute montage to the big guy, spanning several decades and eras of kaiju storytelling. Give it a watch here:
This is heaven for Godzilla fans – spanning from the early black-and-white entries, through the colourful and crazy Showa era, into the more effects-heavy Millennium era, and through into the present day Reiwa era. That means you’ll see glimpses of everything from Godzilla, to Destroy All Monsters, to Shin Godzilla, and everything in between. There’s even a shout-out to the current American MonsterVerse saga, celebrating its own 10th anniversary since the arrival of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla. And the video, too, proudly trumpets the Visual Effects win for Minus One at this year’s Oscars. It’s enough to have you immediately ordering that Showa-era Godzilla Criterion boxset.
As for what the next 70 years of Godzilla will bring, it remains to be seen – a threequel to Godzilla X Kong is in the works (without director Adam Wingard), while a second season of Apple TV+ MonsterVerse show Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters is also incoming. Plus, Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki is said to be mulling over a sequel to his game-changing ‘Zilla flick. The lizard’s reign is far from over.