More bang for your box office buck.
From the Summer 2004 issue of G-Fan (Vol. 1, No. 68), a fanzine edited and published by J.D. Lees of Manitoba, Canada, devoted largely to Godzilla and related matters:
"A very strange thing happened at U.S. theater box offices on the weekend of May 7, 2004. The top grossing movie on a per theater basis was not the newly-opened Van Helsing, which averaged $14,474 per screen. Instead, the winner was a movie made in a foreign country and released there nearly fifty years ago. It also opened the weekend of May 7, screening for the first time in the U.S. uncut and in the original Japanese, with English subtitles. The top movie averaged $19,015 per screen on two screens. The top movie was Godzilla."
--- p. 6
I'd like to crow here about how a quality film will always win out over a major Hollywood studio's hype machine; I'd like to believe that audiences won't support dreck if they're given the least chance to see something better; but I know that ain't so.
Nonetheless, the original, 1954 Gojira -- released two years later in the U.S. as Godzilla, King of the Monsters with 40 minutes chopped, and 20 minutes of new footage featuring Raymond Burr in an apparently rare heroic pre-Perry Mason role (see Raw Deal, Blue Gardenia, Mara Maru, Rear Window), as "reporter Steve Martin" (pause for ironic chuckles) -- whooped Van Helsing's flaccid little butt.
The G-Fan article extrapolates how much money Godzilla would've made had it opened on as many screens as Van Helsing ($69 million, fantasy fans), and in my heart, I know that these are the most absurdly optimistic lowings of a mooncalf. But just imagine: What if?
{Sigh.}
Anyway, if at all possible, do try to see Godzilla if he comes to your city or a city near you; maybe Toho Studios can be convinced to be a little more forthcoming with their distribution of Godzilla movies in the U.S. if they see that Rialto Pictures, the distributor of the restored 1954 Godzilla, didn't exactly go broke. Check out Rialto's site at: http://www.rialtopictures.com/godzilla.html .
I've actually been able to see the original Godzilla on VHS, but am quite anxious to see it on a big screen -- where all Godzilla movies, no matter how cheesy, rightfully belong. It's heartening to see that Rialto has posted so many critical raves from high profile newspapers and magazines -- the very same sort of publications that dumped on Godzilla movies for so many years. Gee, maybe a movie made in the same year by the same studio that did The Seven Samurai, and starring one of the actors who portrayed same (Takashi Shimura, who also starred in the 1952 Ikiru), should be given serious consideration -- y'think?
"A very strange thing happened at U.S. theater box offices on the weekend of May 7, 2004. The top grossing movie on a per theater basis was not the newly-opened Van Helsing, which averaged $14,474 per screen. Instead, the winner was a movie made in a foreign country and released there nearly fifty years ago. It also opened the weekend of May 7, screening for the first time in the U.S. uncut and in the original Japanese, with English subtitles. The top movie averaged $19,015 per screen on two screens. The top movie was Godzilla."
--- p. 6
I'd like to crow here about how a quality film will always win out over a major Hollywood studio's hype machine; I'd like to believe that audiences won't support dreck if they're given the least chance to see something better; but I know that ain't so.
Nonetheless, the original, 1954 Gojira -- released two years later in the U.S. as Godzilla, King of the Monsters with 40 minutes chopped, and 20 minutes of new footage featuring Raymond Burr in an apparently rare heroic pre-Perry Mason role (see Raw Deal, Blue Gardenia, Mara Maru, Rear Window), as "reporter Steve Martin" (pause for ironic chuckles) -- whooped Van Helsing's flaccid little butt.
The G-Fan article extrapolates how much money Godzilla would've made had it opened on as many screens as Van Helsing ($69 million, fantasy fans), and in my heart, I know that these are the most absurdly optimistic lowings of a mooncalf. But just imagine: What if?
{Sigh.}
Anyway, if at all possible, do try to see Godzilla if he comes to your city or a city near you; maybe Toho Studios can be convinced to be a little more forthcoming with their distribution of Godzilla movies in the U.S. if they see that Rialto Pictures, the distributor of the restored 1954 Godzilla, didn't exactly go broke. Check out Rialto's site at: http://www.rialtopictures.com/godzilla.html .
I've actually been able to see the original Godzilla on VHS, but am quite anxious to see it on a big screen -- where all Godzilla movies, no matter how cheesy, rightfully belong. It's heartening to see that Rialto has posted so many critical raves from high profile newspapers and magazines -- the very same sort of publications that dumped on Godzilla movies for so many years. Gee, maybe a movie made in the same year by the same studio that did The Seven Samurai, and starring one of the actors who portrayed same (Takashi Shimura, who also starred in the 1952 Ikiru), should be given serious consideration -- y'think?