Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley

"Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley" is a 1992 Nike television commercial in which Godzilla plays basketball against a kaiju-sized version of NBA star Charles Barkley in Tokyo. Developed by Wieden & Kennedy and produced by Industrial Light & Magic, it premiered in the U.S. during the MTV Video Music Awards on September 9, 1992.

Plot

Godzilla emits a blast of atomic breath as he storms through Tokyo. He turns around as he sees Barkley approach him, dribbling a basketball. The monster puts on a pair of pink goggles and darts his tail out, knocking the ball from Barkley's hands. Barkley catches it and charges forward, elbowing Godzilla aside as he dunks it into the fallen "O" from a Tokyo sign. They walk out of the city as friends. In the Japanese version of the ad, Barkley asks Godzilla, "Have you ever thought about wearing shoes?" In the U.S. version, he instead tells him, "The Lakers are looking for a big man."

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by   Michael Owens
• Produced by   Clint Goldman
• Cinematography by   Kim Marks
• Edited by   Bob Sarles
• Creatives   Warren Eakins and Steve Sandoz
• Head of creature department   Jeff Mann
• Sound designer   Jeff Roth
• Sound mix engineer   Jay Shilliday

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

• Charles Barkley   as   Himself

Godzilla's suit actor has not been identified.

Credits

• Creatives:
• Agency Producer: John Adams
• Head of Creature Department:
• Sound Designer: at Focused Audio, San Francisco
• Sound Mix Engineer: at Focused Audio, San Francisco

Comic book adaptation

Main article: Godzilla vs. Barkley.

In December 1993, Dark Horse Comics released a one-shot comic inspired by the commercial, in which a magic coin allowed Charles Barkley to grow to Godzilla's size and defend San Francisco.

Gallery

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  The cover of the Dark Horse comic adaptation

Videos

The U.S. version of the ad The Japanese version of the ad "Lights, Cameras, Magic!" segment on an episode of Scientific American Frontiers showing the making of the ad Saturday Night Live parody

Trivia

• Saturday Night Live parodied this ad for its September 25, 1993 episode, hosted by Charles Barkley. During his monologue, Barkley showed a clip of a lopsided charity match he played against Barney the Dinosaur, a last-minute replacement for Godzilla.
• "Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley" was the first of many acting roles for Barkley. He later voiced a giant monster, the legendary wrestling champion Rayburn Sr., in the 2021 Paramount Pictures film Rumble.

References

This is a list of references for Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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