Godzilla

[Mark Schilling]

From: Mark Schilling (schill at gol.com)
To: KineJapan (KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Suject: Godzilla
Date: Monday,. June 1, 1998

I've been reading the posts on Godzilla with interest, especially Aaron's
reports on the wide shows. But though complaining that Hollywood has
trashed a Japanese icon may make a good talking point for a wide show
tarento, Toho expects the film to do enormous business here. The following
is an excerpt from a marketing campaign report I wrote recently for Screen
International that attempts to explain why. 

Toho, which killed off its own Godzilla in the 22nd installment of the
series  -- the 1995 Godzilla vs. Destroyah -- and is distributing Roland
Emmerich's replacement in Japan, is convinced that none of the critical
carping will matter at the box office. "It's going to be the event movie of
the summer" says Toho publicist Masahiko Suzuki, "We're projecting film
rentals of Y10 billion ($73 million), or about the same as The Princess
Mononoke and Titanic." 
      To achieve this figure, Toho is mounting what Suzuki describes as "an
orthodox campaign" that bears only a passing resemblance to Sony's
year-long promo blitz. The company has hung a poster on a twin tower that
is a Ginza landmark saying that Godzilla is "as tall as this building," but
has not plastered Tokyo with posters saying that "size does matter."
"Japanese already know how big Godzilla is," says Suzuki. "We don't have to
spend a lot of money reminding them." 
      Working with a relatively small promotional budget compared with its
US counterpart, Toho is saving its big guns for the month before the film's
July 11 opening, when it will saturate the market with TV and print ads, as
well as posters in trains and train stations.  The target of this campaign
will be a wide demographic, including young adults in their twenties and
thirties that are the core movie audience in Japan. 
      To accommodate the expected crowds, Toho is opening Godzilla on 400
screens -- its widest release ever. Many of the screens will be in Warner
Mycal, UCI and other multiplexes that are rapidly reviving the Japanese
exhibition business. "We are not limiting ourselves to our own circuit,"
says Suzuki. "We want to get this film into as many theatres as possible.
Hard-core fans may say that this Godzilla is not the real thing, but we
think ordinary moviegoers are going to love it."    


Before dismissing Toho's box office projection as hype, remember that they
erred on the conservative side in forecasting the take of The Princess
Mononoke; Toho thought it would earn about Y40 billion in film rentals, but
it ended up clearing more than twice that. 

If they are right and Godzilla becomes a Titanic-sized hit here, I suppose
we can say that snazzy CG effects outweigh any fan loyalty to a local idol.
Given that sequels to the US Godzilla are already in the works, the
Japanese Big G may be forced into a long retirement and become even more of
a nostalgia item -- the Japanese equivalent of Mickey Mouse -- than it is
already. I also think, though, that Toho will bring Godzilla "back home"
someday, thunder thighs, rubber suit and all. But will anyone over the age
of 12 still care? 


Mark Schilling (schill at gol.com)