'Godzilla: Resurgence' Teaser Trailer: Toho Unleashes Its Monster
It's been a year and a half since Gareth Edwards brought Godzilla back to the big screen, and it's gonna be another two and a half years before the sequel hits theaters. But if you just can't wait that long for your giant monster fix, Toho — the creature's original creators — has got you covered.
The Japanese company has just put out the first teaser trailer for Godzilla: Resurgence, which is exactly what it sounds like: a resurgence of the dormant franchise. It's not part of the same "universe" as Edwards' movies for Legendary, but that shouldn't take away from the appeal of watching him lay an entire city to waste. Watch the Godzilla: Resurgence teaser trailer after the jump.
The first Godzilla: Resurgence teaser trailer below is all in Japanese, but that shouldn't matter too much. Panicked screaming and monstrous roars transcend language barriers.
Toho first created Godzilla in 1954, and has rebooted the character many times over the decades. Their last incarnation of the franchise ended in 2004 after six installments, with Godzilla: Final Wars. The beast has appeared in 31 films in all.
Godzilla: Resurgence was first announced last year as a very conscious response to the success of Edwards' film. "The time has come for Japan to make a film that will not lose to Hollywood," said producer Taichi Ueda at the time. Another Toho staffer echoed his sentiments in a separate interview: "This is very good timing after the success of the American version this year: if not now, then when?"
To that end, the new film, directed by Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Higuchi (Attack on Titan), will employ "hybrid" special effects techniques to create the monster:
Higuchi's special-effects techniques were amply demonstrated in "Attack on Titan," a new release received favorably in Japan. The work combines computer graphics with manipulating a towering doll of rippling red muscle that resembles a giant biological anatomy chart, as well as special-effects filmmaking, using actors moving through miniatures, to depict grotesquely enlarged humans. Applying to Godzilla that kind of technology, which Higuchi calls "hybrid," has never been attempted in Japan. Higuchi is promising just that.
We don't actually get to see much of Godzilla himself in the teaser trailer, though, so we're still waiting to see how those efforts turned out. Godzilla: Resurgence opens July 29, 2016 in Japan. No U.S. date has been announced.
