The Return of Godzilla (1984)

Godzilla films
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The Return of Godzilla Alternate titles Godzilla (1984) Godzilla 1985 (1985) See alternate titles Directed by Koji Hashimoto Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka Written by Hideichi Nagahara Music by Reijiro Koroku Special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano Production companies Toho Pictures, Toho Eizo Distributor TohoJP, New World PicturesU.S. Rating PGU.S., PGUK Budget ¥640 millionJP $200,000U.S. (added scenes) Box office $4.1 millionU.S. Distributor rentals ¥1.7 billionJP Running time 103 minutesJP (1 hour, 43 minutes) 87 minutesU.S. (1 hour, 27 minutes) Aspect ratio 1.85:1 Rate this film! 4.33 (73 votes)

“	Breaking 30 years of silence comes the anticipated-worldwide latest "Godzilla" work! (３０年間の沈黙を破って全世界待望の「ゴジラ」最新作！)	„
	— Tagline

“	After ten years the terror returns! Stupefying! Entirely new!	„
	— International taglines

“	ALL NEW! Your favorite fire-breathing monster...like you've never seen him before! GODZILLA 1985 The Legend Is Reborn	„
	— U.S. tagline

The Return of Godzilla (ゴジラ,   Gojira, lit. "Godzilla") is a 1984 tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Koji Hashimoto and written by Hideichi Nagahara from a story by Tomoyuki Tanaka, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Produced by Toho Pictures in cooperation with Toho Eizo, it is the 16th installment in the Godzilla series as well as the first in the Heisei series. It stars Keiju Kobayashi, Ken Tanaka, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Shin Takuma, and Yosuke Natsuki. The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on December 15, 1984. New World Pictures produced a heavily-edited English-language version of the film directed by R.J. Kizer and written by Lisa Tomei titled Godzilla 1985, which featured Raymond Burr reprising his role as Steve Martin from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. It released this version to American theaters on August 23, 1985.

A reboot to the Godzilla franchise and the first entry in the Heisei series of films, The Return of Godzilla ignores every film after the 1954 original and returns to the series' darker and more serious roots. When the crew of the fishing boat Yahata Maru No. 5 is attacked at sea, the sole survivor identifes the culprit as Godzilla. The Japanese government seeks to avoid panic by keeping the monster's return a secret, but is forced to reveal it to the world after Godzilla destroys a Soviet nuclear submarine and escalates Cold War tensions to a breaking point. While delegates from Japan, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. debate how to proceed, Godzilla begins to make his way to Tokyo. After Godzilla triggers a Soviet nuclear missile to accidentally launch at Tokyo, suddenly he may no longer be the biggest threat to the Japanese capital. The Return of Godzilla was followed by a direct sequel, Godzilla vs. Biollante, in 1989.

Plot

A Japanese fishing vessel, the Yahata Maru No. 5, is trying to find its way to shore in a fierce storm while near the uninhabited Daikoku Island, when a giant monster appears and attacks the boat. The next morning, reporter Goro Maki finds the vessel intact but deserted. As he explores the vessel, Maki finds all the crew dead with their bodily fluids seemingly drained except for one young man called Hiroshi Okumura, who has been badly wounded. Suddenly a giant sea louse attacks Maki but is eventually killed when Hiroshi regains consciousness and stabs it with a hatchet, saving Maki's life.

In Tokyo, Okumura is kept isolated in a hospital room and meets with Dr. Makoto Hayashida, who presents him with pictures of Godzilla attacking Tokyo from back in 1954. From looking at the pictures, Okumura confirms that the monster he saw was Godzilla. The news of Godzilla's return is kept secret by the Japanese government, with Maki being forbidden to publish the story in the news to avoid creating a mass panic. However, he tips Okumura's sister Naoko off as to her brother's whereabouts, though this is merely a pretext for him to get a photograph for his story, which upsets her.

Godzilla next destroys a Soviet nuclear submarine in the waters near Japan. The Soviets believe the attack was orchestrated by the Americans, and a diplomatic crisis ensues which threatens to escalate into nuclear war. The Japanese intervene and finally announce that Godzilla was behind the attack. The Japanese arrange a meeting with the American and Soviet ambassadors and, after some debate over the issue, Prime Minister Mitamura decides nuclear weapons will not be used on Godzilla even if he were to attack the Japanese mainland, an announcement that both the Americans and Soviets are upset with. The JSDF are put on alert and begin to search for Godzilla, intending to combat him with the secretly-constructed aerial fortress Super X, originally meant to defend Japan in the event of foreign nuclear aggression. Meanwhile, the Soviets have their own plans to counter the threat posed by Godzilla, and a control ship disguised as a freighter called the Balashevo in Tokyo Harbor is outfitted to launch a nuclear missile from one of their orbiting satellites in outer space toward Japan should Godzilla attack. Kashirin, the colonel in charge of the ship, reluctantly orders the nuclear device to be disarmed, as the Soviet government ultimately agrees with the Prime Minister's demands.

Soon, Godzilla appears in the outskirts of Mihama, determined to feed on the reactor of the local nuclear power plant. When Godzilla attacks the facility, he rips out and absorbs energy from the nuclear reactor, but is distracted by a flock of birds and leaves the plant almost as quickly as he had arrived. After some research, Hayashida determines that like birds, Godzilla follows Earth's magnetic field in order to navigate, and that he can be lured to any location using a magnetic transmitter. Hayashida forms a plan to construct a magnetic transmitter and lure Godzilla to Mount Mihara on Izu Oshima, where he will be trapped in the volcano's crater with a controlled eruption.

Godzilla is later sighted in Tokyo Bay, forcing mass evacuations out of the city as a state of emergency is declared. The JSDF attacks Godzilla with fighter jets, but their missiles are useless against him. Godzilla then proceeds to the coast, where the waiting military forces, equipped with tanks, rocket launchers, ground-to-ground missiles and infantry, proceed to fire on Godzilla, but they are quickly obliterated with a single blast of his atomic breath. As Godzilla climbs ashore, he causes the Balashevo to crash into the shore and capsize, damaging its systems and accidentally starting a countdown that will cause the nuclear missile to launch. Kashirin bravely attempts to disarm the missile but is killed by a small explosion before he can do so. Godzilla then proceeds towards Tokyo's business district, wreaking havoc along the way. There, he is confronted by two N1-00s, which successfully manage to lure Godzilla away from the building in which Maki, Hayashida, and Naoko are completing the magnetic transmitter module. Their diversion leads Godzilla towards the Super X, which has completed loading ammunition.

Godzilla has a bad reaction to the cadmium shells that are fired into his mouth by the Super X, and falls down unconscious, with crowds gathering to look at him. This gives Hayashida enough time to finish the transmitter, and after much effort by the trio to reach the roof, Okumura extracts the professor and the device via helicopter. High wind currents force Naoko and Maki to stay behind and attempt to escape via the building's stairwell. The city, however, is faced with a greater threat when the countdown ends and the Russian missile is launched from the satellite, leaving the Japanese government and people helpless to stop it. A full evacuation of Shinjuku is carried out, though the Americans intervene and shoot down the missile with one of their own before it can hit Tokyo. However, the atmospheric nuclear blast creates a radioactive electrical storm, which revives Godzilla.

Godzilla has a final battle with the Super X, eventually damaging the aircraft and forcing it to make an emergency landing, after which he destroys it by toppling a building onto it. After Maki and Naoko leave the building, Godzilla advances toward them until Professor Hayashida arrives on Oshima and activates the magnetic transmitter, which attracts Godzilla's attention. Godzilla leaves Tokyo and swims across the ocean to Mt. Mihara, where he notices the signal device, which fascinates him. As he walks toward it, he falls into the mouth of the volcano where he is surrounded by bombs. Okumura detonates the charges and causes a volcanic eruption. Godzilla roars as the ground beneath him crumbles and he falls into the volcano's crater, his fate unknown.

Staff

Main article: The Return of Godzilla/Credits.

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

• Directed by   Koji Hashimoto
• Written by   Hideichi Nagahara
• Based on a story by   Tomoyuki Tanaka
• Executive producer   Tomoyuki Tanaka
• Associate producer   Fumio Tanaka
• Music by   Reijiro Koroku
• "Godzilla: Love Theme" performed by   The Star Sisters
• "Goodbye Lover" performed by   Yasuko Sawaguchi
• Cinematography by   Kazumi Hara
• Edited by   Yoshitami Kuroiwa
• Production design by   Akira Sakuragi
• First assistant director   Takao Okawara
• Director of special effects   Teruyoshi Nakano
• First assistant director of special effects   Eiichi Asada

Godzilla 1985

• Directed by   R.J. Kizer
• Screenplay by   Lisa Tomei
• Produced by   Anthony Randel
• Additional music by   Chris Young
• Cinematography by   Steven Dubin
• Edited by   Michael Spence
• Assistant director   Lee S. Berger

Cast

Main article: The Return of Godzilla/Credits.

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. Keiju Kobayashi   as   Prime Minister Kiyoteru Mitamura Ken Tanaka   as   Goro Maki, reporter for the Tohto Times Yasuko Sawaguchi   as   Naoko Okumura Shin Takuma   as   Hiroshi Okumura Yosuke Natsuki   as   Dr. Makoto Hayashida, biophysicist Eitaro Ozawa   as   Kanzaki, Minister of Finance Taketoshi Naito   as   Hirotaka Takegami, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobuo Kaneko   as   Isomura, Minister of Home Affairs Takeshi Kato   as   Kasaoka, Minister of International Trade and Industry Mizuho Suzuki   as   Seiichi Emori, Foreign Minister Junkichi Orimoto   as   Mori, Minister of Defense Shinsuke Mikimoto   as   Kakurai, Integrated Chief of Staff Kanta Mori   as   Okouchi, Director General of the National Land Agency Yoshibumi Tajima   as   Hidaka, Minister of the Environment Kiyoshi Yamamoto   as   Kajita, Director General of the Science and Technology Agency Hiroshi Koizumi   as   Minami, geologist Kunio Murai   as   Noboru Henmi, Chairman of the Cabinet Information Research Office Sho Hashimoto   as   Akiyama, Super X Commander Tetsuya Ushio   as   operator Takashi Ebata   as   captain of the Yahata Maru No. 5 Chiyoyuki Tahara   as   fisherman on the Yahata Maru No. 5 Shigeo Kato   as   radioman on the Yahata Maru No. 5 Kenji Fukuda   as   Super X officer Taiga Mori   as   Super X officer Kenichi Urata   as   Ishimura Tatami Room personnel

Yumiko Tanaka   as   Akemi, Izu Oshima resident Kenyoi Watanabe   as   operator Yuhiro Fuse   as   operator Shin Kazenaka   as   technical officer Walter Nichols   as   Rosenburg, Special Envoy for the President of the United States Alexander Kilis   as   Chefsky, Special Envoy for the Premier of the Soviet Union Luke Johnston   as   Colonel Kashirin, Special Soviet Operative Dennis Falt   as   Soviet submarine captain Kei Sato   as   Godo, editor-in-chief of the Tohto Times Takenori Emoto   as   Kitagawa, desk editor for the Tohto Times Shinpei Hayashiya   as   Kamijo, cameraman Hiroshi Kamayatsu   as   bullet train passenger Takero Morimoto   as   newscaster Koji Ishizaka   as   Nuclear Power Plant personnel Tetsuya Takeda   as   vagrant (special guest appearance) Joe Raznack   as   Kramer, American Ambassador (uncredited) Joseph Grace   as   Zazimov, Soviet Ambassador (uncredited) Nigel Lead   as   Soviet nuclear submarine deputy captain (uncredited) Terry Sonberg   as   Balashevo sailor (uncredited) Setsuko Kawaguchi   as   bullet train passenger (uncredited) Nabeyakan   as   bullet train passenger (uncredited) Akira Toriyama   as   man fleeing from Godzilla (uncredited) Yuji Horii   as   man fleeing from Godzilla (uncredited) Akira Sakuma   as   man fleeing from Godzilla (uncredited) Kenpachiro Satsuma   as   Godzilla

International English dub

• Barry Haigh   as   Prime Minister Kiyoteru Mitamura / Kasaoka / Godo / vagrant / Soviet submarine captain / Nuclear Power Plant personnel
• John Culkin   as   Goro Maki
• Elizabeth Oram   as   Naoko Okumura / Akemi
• Warwick Evans   as   Hiroshi Okumura / Hidaka / newscaster
• Matthew Oram   as   Dr. Makoto Hayashida / Kakurai / Kajita / Chefsky / Kamijo

Godzilla 1985

• Raymond Burr   as   Steven Martin
• Warren Kemmerling   as   General Goodhue
• James Hess   as   Colonel Raschen
• Travis Swords   as   Major McDonough
• Crawford Binion   as   Lieutenant
• Justin Gocke   as   Kyle
• Bobby Brown, Patrick Feren, Mark Simon, Shepard Stern, Alan D. Waserman   as   extras
• Tony Plana   as   Goro Maki (voice)
• Lara Cody   as   Naoko Okumura (voice) / Pentagon personnel (voice)
• Paul Wilson   as   Dr. Makoto Hayashida / Kakurai (voice)
• Andy Goldberg   as   Ken Okumura (voice)
• Gregory Snegoff   as   Takegami (voice) / Kitagawa (voice) / newscaster (voice)

Appearances

Monsters Godzilla (84Goji) First Generation Godzilla (photographs) Shockirus

Weapons, vehicles, and races Yahata Maru No. 5 N1-00 Super X Mitsubishi F-1 Type 74 Tank UH-1B Huey Bell 212 Balashevo Soviet Nuclear Attack Satellite Ballistic Missile Launcher Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk Kawasaki-Vertol KV-107 II HSS-2B Kawasaki P-3C Orion Delta II Class Nuclear Submarine M110A2 Self-Propelled Howitzer

Gallery

Main article: The Return of Godzilla/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: The Return of Godzilla/Soundtrack.

Alternate titles

• Godzilla (literal Japanese title; Finland; Spain)
• Godzilla Is Alive (early U.S. title)
• Godzilla 1985 (United States; Γκοτζίλα 1985; Greece; ゴジラ1985, Gojira 1985; Japan)
• Godzilla-85 (Sweden)
• Godzilla: The Legend is Reborn (United Kingdom home video title, box)
• Godzilla 1984 (U.S. DVD/Blu-ray title)
• Godzilla: The Return of the Monster (Godzilla – Die Rückkehr des Monsters; West Germany)
• The Return of Godzilla 1986 (El Retorno de Godzilla 1986; Mexico)
• Godzilla Returns (Godzilla vender tilbake; Norway)
• Return of Godzilla (Godzilla'nin Dönüşü; Turkey; German English video title)
• Destruction of Japan (擊滅日本国, Jī miè rìběn guó; Taiwanese video title)

Theatrical releases

View all posters for the film here.

• Japan - December 15, 1984   [view poster]
• United States - August 23, 1985   [view poster]
• Canada - October 25, 1985
• Belgium - March 12, 1985
• France - June 1, 1985   [view poster]
• West Germany - July 26, 1985   [view poster]
• India - 1985   [view poster]
• United Kingdom - 1986
• Australia - 1986
• Norway - 1986
• Pakistan - 1980s   [view poster]
• Mexico   [view poster]
• Turkey   [view poster]
• Yugoslavia   [view poster]
• Egypt   [view poster]

Foreign releases

U.S. release

U.S. Godzilla 1985 poster

After acquiring The Return of Godzilla for distribution in North America, New World Pictures changed the title to Godzilla 1985. The company heavily re-edited the film at a cost of $200,000. Dr Pepper, which had licensed the Godzilla character for commercials earlier in the year independent of New World, gave New World $10 million to fund its Godzilla 1985 advertising campaign in exchange for the non-negotiable appearance of Dr Pepper soft drinks in the edited film. As part of the agreement, Dr Pepper advertised Godzilla 1985 in its own Godzilla campaign.

New World added around 10 minutes of new footage, most of it set at the Pentagon, with Raymond Burr reprising his role as Steve Martin from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. The new footage, directed by R.J. Kizer, was filmed over a period of three shooting days. Difficulties stemming from coordination with equipment transport prohibited the shooting of location photography in Malibu intended for the scenes scripted at Martin's residence. In post-production, Kizer's directorial duties also extended into the dubbing sessions, which lasted for a two day period; one day for principal dialogue, the second for group scenes and walla. The U.S. version, even with the added Raymond Burr footage, only runs 87 minutes; 16 minutes shorter than the Japanese version. In order to avoid association with comedian and actor Steve Martin, the script of the U.S. version refers to Raymond Burr's character only as "Martin" or "Mr. Martin" for the entirety of the U.S. version, though its end credits list him as "Steven Martin."

New World Pictures released the film to American theaters on August 23, 1985. Original 35mm prints had a trailer for the horror film The Stuff and the famous cartoon short Bambi Meets Godzilla attached, in that order. The U.S. version could not be released in Dolby Stereo like the original Japanese version because of the U.S. version's heavy editing combined with the fact that Toho provided the separate mono dialogue, music and effects stems, but only provided the stereo music and effects as a fully mixed track. Without the stereo music and effects fully separated from each other, they could not be properly edited and conformed to the U.S. edit. This resulted in New World mixing the U.S. cut in mono using the mono D-M-E stems and the added U.S. sound material.

Much of the original version was deleted or altered:

• Shortened and altered: During the film's opening, instead of seeing the reaction of the Yahata Maru No. 5's crew after Godzilla roars, the film cuts to a shot of Steve Martin.
• Shortened: Goro's fight with the Shockirus; the sea louse's screech was also changed.
• Altered: Hiroshi Okumura's given name is changed to "Ken", or "Kenny" as his sister Naoko calls him, and he is referred to primarily by his given name, with his surname only spoken once.
• Deleted: Goro calling his editor from Izu Oshima.
• Deleted: Professor Hayashida showing Okumura photographs of Godzilla's 1954 attack and later discussing the Shockirus with an aide at the police hospital.
• Shortened: The scene where Naoko learns her brother is alive; Goro snaps pictures of them reunited, which angers Naoko because she realizes he only helped her in order to get a scoop.
• Shortened: The meeting between the Japanese Prime Minister and the Russian and American ambassadors. Also deleted was a scene after the meeting in which the prime minister explains to his aides how he was able to reach a consensus with both sides. Furthermore, this scene appears before Godzilla's attack on the nuclear power plant in the U.S. version, whereas in the Japanese version it appears afterwards.
• Deleted: Hayashida and Naoko making a wave generator.
• Altered: Godzilla's first attack on the nuclear power plant.
• Added: Part of Christopher Young's score from Def-Con 4 in several scenes (including Godzilla's attack on the Soviet submarine, the scene where the SDF armored division arrives in Tokyo Bay, and Okumura's near-death experience during the helicopter extraction in Tokyo).
• Deleted: A shot of an American nuclear missile satellite in space (probably done in order to make the United States appear less aggressive).
• Altered: Almost all of Godzilla's rampage through Tokyo. Scenes of a crowd fleeing Godzilla that appeared later in the Japanese version were moved to an earlier point in the movie (and corresponding footage of them gathering around Godzilla after he is knocked out by the Super X was removed), the Super X fight was re-arranged (in the Japanese version, Godzilla fires his atomic breath at the Super X after being hit with the cadmium missiles, not before), and various other scenes of destruction were either placed in a different order or deleted completely, most conspicuously a shot showing Godzilla reflected in the windows of the Yurakucho Center Building during the scene in which he attacks the Bullet Train.
• Deleted: Almost all shots which employed a life-size replica of Godzilla's foot (mostly seen near the end); only one shot of the big foot crushing parked cars during the nuclear power plant scene was kept.
• Added: When Godzilla falls into the erupting Mount Mihara, he screams at a high pitch. This scream was actually recorded by Toho for an alternative monaural mix and was included in the international version of the film. Godzilla's roars prior to falling into the volcano are also different in the U.S. version.
• Added: Stock footage from the original Godzilla during one of the new scenes set in the Pentagon.

One of the most controversial changes is the scene where - in the original version - the Russian officer Colonel Kashirin valiantly attempts to stop his ship’s damaged weapons system from automatically launching a nuclear weapon, but gets killed by a small explosion in the ship before he can. New World rewrote the subtitles and replaced the end of the scene with an insert shot of Kashirin pressing the launch button so that he intentionally launches the weapon. In his interview with Godzilla 1985 producer Anthony Randel, Brett Homenick mentioned a rumor that the executives of New World were conservatives and "objected to having the Russians portrayed as good guys, as they were in the original film." In his reply, Randel stated:

That was totally me. It had nothing to do with (Lawrence) Kuppin and (Harry E.) Sloan (the management of New World at the time). I don’t think they ever saw the movie! That was a complete joke I did. (laughs) I did it. I remember looking over the film and trying to figure out how we were going to integrate scenes. I had a really funny idea: Let’s make it so the Russians start the whole thing! (laughs) It had nothing to do with their politics. In fact, Harry Sloan was not conservative. He was very big in the Democratic Party. Kuppin, I think, was conservative, but Sloan was not. Bob Rehme was not, either. He ran the company. So, no, that was me. I’ll take 100% blame for that, and to this day I get the biggest laugh about it. Because it was the Reagan era, and because I made it look like the Russians started the whole (thing), it was a 1980s joke.

The Pentagon scenes took on a much more comedic tone in earlier drafts of the Godzilla 1985 screenplay. The writers toned this down considerably for the final draft, reserving much of the comic relief for Major McDonough. Raymond Burr took the message of the original Godzilla very seriously and even made several changes to his character's dialogue himself. The closing narration, as written and spoken by Burr, is as follows:

Nature has a way sometimes of reminding Man of just how small he is. She occasionally throws up terrible offsprings [sic] of our pride and carelessness, to remind us how puny we really are in the face of a tornado...an earthquake...or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of Man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences. For now...Godzilla...that strangely innocent and tragic monster...has gone to earth. Whether he returns or not...or is never again seen by human eyes...the things he has taught us...remain.

New World released Godzilla 1985 on VHS in the late 1980s and early 1990s following its theatrical release. In Japan, Toho released the U.S. version with Japanese subtitles on VHS on December 27, 1989, and again on August 1, 1993. When New World was acquired by 20th Century Fox in 1997, the home video rights to its library of films released from 1984 to 1991, including Godzilla 1985, were acquired by Anchor Bay Entertainment. The company released it as part of a VHS box set in 1997 in anticipation of the upcoming American film GODZILLA, along with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and either Son of Godzilla or Godzilla vs. Megalon.

While Anchor Bay's other Godzilla films were acquired by new distributors after their rights lapsed, primarily Classic Media and Sony, legal issues arose regarding the rights to Godzilla 1985. As a result, Anchor Bay could not release the film on DVD like they did with much of their New World catalog, and Toho withheld the film from home video distribution in North America for nearly two decades. In the meantime, through Warner Bros., who held the broadcast rights, the satellite channel Monsters HD aired an HD transfer of Godzilla 1985 several times in the mid-2000s. This transfer lacks several sound effects and music cues, a dissolve and the theatrical subtitles for the Russian speaking characters due to an improper conform of the U.S. version's original A/B rolls, the negative of the high contrast titles, and mono D-M-E master. A 2006 broadcast is currently in circulation online via standard definition recordings.

On May 19, 2016, Kraken Releasing, which had previously released Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Godzilla vs. Gigan on DVD and Blu-ray, announced it had acquired the rights to the film, and released it on DVD and Blu-ray on September 13, 2016. However, due to the ongoing rights issues regarding Godzilla 1985, Kraken's discs only offered the Japanese version of the film and the international English dub track. According to Kraken Releasing co-founder Matt Greenfield, the inclusion of additional music composed by Christopher Young for the score of the film Def-Con 4 in the soundtrack for Godzilla 1985 was among the factors that prevented its inclusion. It was the last Godzilla film to be released on DVD in the U.S., with the exception of Shin Godzilla, which at the time was still playing in Japanese theaters.

United Kingdom release

UK Godzilla 1985 VHS cover

Entertainment Film Distributors distributed Godzilla 1985 in the United Kingdom in 1986. The British Board of Film Classification required 17 seconds of cuts to the Shockirus' attack on Goro Maki for the film to receive a PG rating, as they felt it would "frighten kids under the seats never to re-emerge, and also load them with false anxieties regarding the rest of the movie to come." However, New World was able to issue it on VHS the following year uncut, as the BBFC felt the scene's impact was reduced on a TV screen. In 1998, Carlton Home Entertainment released the international dub of The Return of Godzilla on VHS, this version again classified as PG.

Australian release

Australian Godzilla 1985 poster

Village Roadshow Pictures theatrically exhibited Godzilla 1985 in Australia in March 1986. The Australian Classification Board passed the film uncut with a PG rating, and passed Roadshow Home Video's subsequent VHS release with the same rating. Unlike the U.S., UK, and Japanese home video releases of the film, Roadshow Home Video's rental VHS utilizes a direct transfer of a release print of the film with the theatrical subtitles for the Soviet characters left intact.

West German release

West German Godzilla: The Return of the Monster theatrical release poster

Neue Constantin Film released a heavily cut 79-minute German-language version of The Return of Godzilla theatrically in West Germany on July 26, 1985, retitled Godzilla – Die Rückkehr des Monsters (lit. "Godzilla: The Return of the Monster"). Deletions in this version include:

• Maki at Izu Oshima on the phone with his editor Kitagawa, and his interaction with Akemi as he prepares to leave for Tokyo.
• Prime Minister Mitamura and Chief Cabinet Secretary Takegami discussing Godzilla's return and the need to embargo the story.
• Almost the entirety of events depicted in the film's second reel: Maki's meeting with Prof. Hayashida, Maki revealing to Naoko the truth about her brother, Naoko's reunion with Okumura, the Soviet nuclear submarine's encounter with and subsequent destruction by Godzilla, Emori breaking the news of the Soviet sub's destruction to Mitamura, Mitamura and his cabinet making the decision to lift the ban on the reporting of Godzilla's reappearance, Takegami and Okumura revealing Godzilla's existence at a press conference, and Okumura and Naoko rejecting Maki after his article on the two is published.
• Hayashida, Maki, and Okumura discussing Godzilla's path and reason to return to Japan to absorb further radioactive materials.
• Newspaper headlines announcing Godzilla's destruction of the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant and subsequent disappearance, and shots of the photos of Godzilla taken by Okumura in the following scene.
• Hayashida discussing the mythological significance of Godzilla and his desire to send Godzilla back to wherever he came from.
• Soviet Special Envoy Chefsky stressing the likelihood of Godzilla attacking the Pacific Fleet base at Vladivostok, and urging Mitamura to give his decision on the authorization of the use of tactical nuclear weapons on Godzilla.
• Mitamura discussing the Godzilla crisis with his cabinet.
• The ending credits sequence over the controlled eruption of Mount Mihara.

VPS/United Video/Empire Return of Godzilla VHS cover

Marketing Film released the West German version on VHS in October 1985. They replaced the Neue Constatin logo and other visuals before the title sequence with a Marketing Film logo done on video. They also obscured the original end title with their own logo. Empire released the film on VHS in unified Germany on May 20, 1992 using the English title Return of Godzilla, Empire presented the German dub conformed to a truncated transfer of Toho's international export version with the ending credits restored, bringing the runtime up to 82 minutes. Astro/Empire released the uncut export version of the film, marketed as the "Director's Cut", on LaserDisc in 1996, packaged in a box set with Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Godzilla vs. Mothra. Astro/Empire presented the film with its German dub, reverting to the English export dub for scenes not dubbed in German. The audio goes silent for a few seconds before the languages switch, cutting off part of the English dialogue in some scenes.

Astro/Best Entertainment released the German dub on DVD in 2001. Astro/Best Entertainment presented a direct port of the uncut 1996 LaserDisc almost fully conformed to the West German cut. The video editor replaced the Toho logo - cropped too close on the master used - with the Toho logo from the German video master of Godzilla vs. Biollante. In conforming the master to the West German cut, the video editor forgot to cut the scene where Hayashida discusses the mythological significance of Godzilla, so for this scene the release reverts to the English export dub. Marketing Film released the uncut version of the film on DVD on July 29, 2004,using the Japanese video transfer on Toho's DVD release. This DVD uses a poor quality NTSC-to-PAL standards conversion with image ghosting. Marketing Film dubbed into German the scenes deleted from the West German version. They used dialogue translated from the English export dub, although recorded with an entirely different cast from the original theatrical dub. Marketing Film used Masaru Sato's score for Godzilla Raids Again - a film they had previously had re-dubbed - to fill in for Reijiro Koroku's score during newly dubbed scenes; this is presumably because Marketing Film did not request isolated music and effects for the film or Toho did not provide them.

Although Marketing Film would re-release their DVD two separate times in boxed sets with some of their other Godzilla titles, the film has yet to be re-released on DVD or Blu-Ray and remains out of print in Germany.

Box office

The Return of Godzilla was a reasonable success in Japan, with attendance figures at approximately 3.2 million^{[citation needed]} and grossing ¥1.7 billion in distributor rentals. In terms of total attendance, it was the most popular Godzilla film since 1966's Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.

The U.S. release of the film, Godzilla 1985, however, failed to ignite the North American box office. Opening on August 23, 1985, in 235 North American theaters, the film grossed $509,502 in its opening weekend, on its way to a lackluster $4,116,395 total gross.

New World's budget for Godzilla 1985 consisted of $500,000 to lease the film from Toho, $200,000 for filming the new scenes and other revisions, and $2,500,000 for prints and advertising, adding up to a grand total of approximately $3,200,000. Taking this into consideration, Godzilla 1985, though not a hit, proved to be profitable for New World, and the profit would increase with home video and television revenue.

Reception

The New World version of the film was almost universally lambasted by North American critics, receiving only a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight reviews. Roger Ebert, who gave the film a mere one star in the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote:

"The filmmakers must have known that the original Godzilla had many loyal fans all over the world who treasured the absurd dialogue, the bad lip-synchronizing, the unbelievable special effects, the phony profundity. So they have deliberately gone after the same inept feeling in Godzilla 1985. Examples: Dialogue: Is so consistently bad that the entire screenplay could be submitted as an example. My favorite moment occurs when the hero and heroine are clutching each other on a top floor of a skyscraper being torn apart by Godzilla and the professor leaps into the shot, says "What has happened here?" and leaps out again without waiting for an answer. Lip-synchronizing: Especially in the opening shots, there seems to be a subtle effort to exaggerate the bad coordination between what we see and what we hear. All lip-sync is a little off, of course, but this movie seems to be going for condescending laughs from knowledgeable film-goers. Special effects: When Godzilla marches on Tokyo, the buildings are the usual fake miniature models, made out of paint and cardboard. The tip off is when he rips a wall off a high-rise, and nothing falls out. That's because there is nothing inside."

Vincent Canby of the New York Times, who had given a positive review to Godzilla vs. Megalon nine years earlier, was similarly unimpressed:

"Though special-effects experts in Japan and around the world have vastly improved their craft in the last 30 years, you wouldn't know it from this film. Godzilla, who is supposed to be about 240 feet tall, still looks like a wind-up toy, one that moves like an arthritic toddler with a fondness for walking through teeny-tiny skyscrapers instead of mud puddles. Godzilla 1985 was shot in color but its sensibility is that of the black-and-white Godzilla films of the 1950s. What small story there is contains a chaste romance and lots of references to the lessons to be learned from "this strangely innocent but tragic creature." The point seems to be that Godzilla, being a "living nuclear bomb," something that cannot be destroyed, must rise up from time to time to remind us of the precariousness of our existence. One can learn the same lesson almost any day on almost any New York street corner."

One of the few positive reviews came from Joel Siegel of Good Morning America, who is quoted on New World's newspaper ads as saying, "Hysterical fun...the best Godzilla in thirty years!"

Awards

Yasuko Sawaguchi won a Newcomer of the Year award at the 9th Japanese Academy Awards for her role as Naoko Okumura. Teruyoshi Nakano and his special effects team also received a Special Award for their work on the film. The Return of Godzilla was a recipient of the "Excellent Silver Award" for Japanese films at the 3rd Golden Gross Awards, which recognized the highest-grossing films of 1985 in Japan. Godzilla 1985 received the dubious honor of two nominations at the Razzie Awards, for Worst Supporting Actor (Raymond Burr) and Worst New Star ("the new computerized" Godzilla).

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
9th Japan Academy Awards	Newcomer of the Year	Yasuko Sawaguchi	Won
	Special Award: Special Effects	Teruyoshi Nakano and other special effects staff	Won
3rd Golden Gross Awards	Excellent Silver Award	The Return of Godzilla	Won
6th Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Supporting Actor	Raymond Burr	Lost
	Worst New Star	The new computerized Godzilla	Lost

Novelization

Main article: The Return of Godzilla (novelization).

A novelization of the film written by Fumihiko Ino and Kohei Nomura was published by Kodansha in 1984. The novelization mostly follows the story of the film, but incorporates scenes from early drafts and screenplays, such as an attack on a fishing village by a swarm of Shockirus.

Manga adaptation

Main article: Godzilla (1985 manga).

A manga adaptation of the film was published in Japan by Shogakukan in 1984, and was later translated into English and published in the West by Dark Horse as a six-issue comic miniseries titled Godzilla in 1988. Dark Horse republished the manga in 1998 under the title Terror of Godzilla, this time in color rather than in black-and-white.

Technical specifications

Japanese version (1984)

• Shooting format: 35mm color negative (spherical)
• Lab work: Tokyo Laboratory
• Distribution format: 35mm color print (spherical)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (hard matte)
• Audio format: Dolby Stereo A-type (2.0 matrix-encoded from 4.0)
• Spoken language: Japanese, Russian, English
• On-screen language: Japanese (credits, expository text and subtitles)
• Lab reel count: 7 reels
• Footage count: 9,295 feet (2,833 meters)

Godzilla 1985 (1985)

• Shooting format: 35mm color negative (spherical)
• Cut on: 35mm color camera negative and internegative (spherical)
• Lab work: Technicolor (prints)
• Distribution format: 35mm Agfa-Gevaert color print (spherical)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (soft and hard matte)
• Audio format: Optical mono (duo-bilateral variable area)
• Spoken language: English, Russian
• On-screen language: English (credits, expository text and subtitles)
• Lab reel count: 5 reels
• Projection reel count: 5 reels
• Footage count: Approx. 7,830 feet (2,387 meters)
• Notes: Trailer for The Stuff and the short film Bambi Meets Godzilla attached to the beginning (not included in the footage count). MPAA PG rating screen attached to the end

Video releases

Super Edições Vídeo VHS (1988)

• Tapes: 1
• Audio: English with Portuguese subtitles
• Notes: According to the tape's back cover, SEV had distribution rights not only to Portugal, but also to Angola and Mozambique.

Toho DVD (2002)

• Region: 2
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround)
• Subtitles: Japanese
• Special features: Audio commentary by Teruyoshi Nakano, trailers for the film and the Godzilla 1983 Movie Festival, making-of featurette (43 minutes), photo galleries

Atlantic Film DVD (2006)

• Region: 2
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround)
• Subtitles: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
• Special features: Clips from Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Godzilla vs. Mothra, summary of Godzilla (1954)

Universe DVD (2006)

• Region: 3
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (1.0 Mono) and Cantonese (1.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Chinese (traditional and simplified)
• Special features: Cantonese Godzilla vs. Biollante trailer

Toho Blu-ray (2009/2014)

• Region: A
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround)
• Subtitles: Japanese
• Special features: Audio commentary by Teruyoshi Nakano, trailers for the film and the Godzilla 1983 Movie Festival, making-of featurette (43 minutes), Godzilla Series Location Guide (49 minutes)

Kraken Releasing DVD/Blu-ray (2016)

• Region: 1 (DVD) or A (Blu-ray)
• Discs: 1
• Audio: Japanese (5.1 Surround) and English (5.1 Surround, international dub)
• Special features: Trailers for The Return of Godzilla and Kraken Releasing's other three Godzilla films
• Notes: The international dub's 5.1 audio mix differs from the original 1.0 mix in several ways, most notably the exclusion of Godzilla's scream as he falls into Mt. Mihara.

Videos

Trailers

Japanese newsflash/special announcement Japanese trailer Japanese TV spot International trailer French trailer West German trailer German video trailer Portuguese video trailer U.S. Godzilla 1985 trailer U.S. Godzilla 1985 TV spots

Miscellaneous

Visuals from the international export version West German opening credits Godzilla's "scream" heard only in certain versions Sound and music differences between the "A" and "B" mixes of the film's audio English voice work missing from the Kraken DVD and Blu-ray Audio differences between the theatrical and answer print versions of Godzilla 1985 Cybot Godzilla exhibition

Trivia

• Although it is the first entry in what became the Heisei series of Godzilla films, The Return of Godzilla was actually released during Japan's Showa period, which lasted from 1926 to 1989.
• The time between the release of this film and Terror of Mechagodzilla represents the single longest hiatus in the franchise's history, at nine years and nine months.
• The original story for The Return of Godzilla was first written in 1980, but as an entirely different film titled Resurrection of Godzilla. Godzilla was to fight a shape-shifting kaiju named Bagan, and the Super X played a much smaller role.
• Teruyoshi Nakano, who had worked on the special effects for the Godzilla series since 1971, provided his final contribution to the series in The Return of Godzilla. Nakano later stated that The Return of Godzilla was his favorite Godzilla film that he directed the special effects for, along with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Nakano retired from special effects four years later after working on Princess from the Moon.
• This is the first Godzilla film composed in the taller, non-anamorphic "flat" (1.85:1) aspect ratio.
• The Return of Godzilla is the only Godzilla film in the Heisei series to not have "vs." in either its Japanese or international title.
• Released in December of 1984, The Return of Godzilla was the first in a string of Japanese Godzilla films to be released in December. Every subsequent film through 2004's Godzilla Final Wars also saw a December release date, though this trend would be broken in 2016 with Shin Godzilla's July 29 release date.
• This film's protagonist, Goro Maki, shares his name and occupation with the main character of the 1967 film Son of Godzilla, who was played by Akira Kubo. The name "Goro Maki" would be used again for an unseen character in 2016's Shin Godzilla, who was a biologist rather than a reporter.
• Originally, veteran Godzilla series actor Akihiko Hirata was intended to portray Dr. Hayashida, but Hirata became seriously ill prior to the start of filming, and eventually passed away prior to the film's release.^{[citation needed]} Another veteran Toho actor, Yosuke Natsuki, who had previously appeared as Detective Shindo in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, was cast in the role instead. Natsuki later admitted in an interview that he had no idea Hirata was originally meant to play the role, and insisted that he would never have accepted had he known this, feeling that he could never replace Hirata.^{[citation needed]}
• This was the second film role for actress Yasuko Sawaguchi, the winner of the first Toho Cinderella Audition in 1984. Sawaguchi was honored as "Newcomer of the Year" at the 9th Japan Academy Awards for her role. Sawaguchi also performed the song "Goodbye Lover," which Goro Maki can be heard listening to aboard his boat early in the film prior to discovering the abandoned Yahata-Maru.
• Shinji Higuchi worked on this film as an uncredited assistant in the modeling department. Higuchi would go on to become one of Japan's top special effects technicians, providing the special effects for Shusuke Kaneko's Gamera trilogy in the 1990s and later co-directing Shin Godzilla in 2016.
• During the scene where Godzilla drops a train, the Ghostbusters logo can be seen on a nearby building. Ghostbusters opened in Japanese theaters 13 days before The Return of Godzilla.
• The Return of Godzilla began a trend that Toho would continue in the Millennium series, ignoring all prior sequels to the original Godzilla and using that film as a jumping-off point.
• The Return of Godzilla was the first Godzilla film to be dubbed into Korean. Prior to it, all Godzilla films released in South Korea simply had the original Japanese audio with Korean subtitles.^{[citation needed]}
• Godzilla 1985 states that Godzilla first attacked Tokyo in 1956, the year that Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was released in the United States, rather than 1954.

External links

• Toho Kingdom interview with Kraken Releasing founder Matt Greenfield about the company's releases of the film
• Comparison of the film's two English dubs
• List of firearms used in the movie

References

This is a list of references for The Return of Godzilla. 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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