You know what's cooler than our new Godzilla subscribers cover? No, we can't think of anything either. Like a penguin in a blender, it's black and white and red all over, and gives you some idea of the mayhem we can expect from Gareth Edward's monster movie.
As you might guess from that Rising Sun-esque background, the film has one foot in Godzilla's traditional Japanese stomping ground, but this monster has a passport and will travel - as those choppers might suggest.
The film boasts an accomplished human cast, including Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and David Straithairn, but it's the main man himself who required most care and attention from the director.
"Trying to get the face right was the main thing," says Edwards. "I guess he's got more of a bear's face, or a dog's. We also used eagle. There's a lot of nobility in an eagle. It made him feel very majestic and noble." Edwards also used London-based motion-capture facility The Imaginarium and its head, one Andy Serkis, on certain sequences to "control the souls" (as Edwards puts it) of his creations.
Godzilla hits screens on May 16, but you can pick up the new issue of Empire this Thursday (February 27) on newsstands. If you're a subscriber{
***UPDATE: ***You can now hear Godzilla's roar thanks to this handy SoundCloud file. Be sure to turn your speakers all the way up to 11...