Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃) is a 2001 Japanese kaiju film directed and co-written by Shusuke Kaneko, with special effects by Makoto Kamiya. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 26th film in the Godzilla franchise and the third film in the Millennium era. The film stars Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi, Hideyo Amamoto, and Shirō Sano, with Mizuho Yoshida as Godzilla, Akira Ohashi as King Ghidorah, and Rie Ōta as Baragon. In the film, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon defend Japan from Godzilla, who has been possessed by the souls of those that were killed during the Pacific War. Like the other films in the franchise's Millennium period, the film serves as a direct sequel to the original 1954 Godzilla film, ignoring the events of every other installment in the series, minus a small reference to Godzilla (1998).

Godzilla was originally slated to face off against a revamped version of Kamacuras, but Kaneko ultimately decided to place Godzilla against three monsters representing elements of the Earth: Varan, Baragon, and Anguirus. Toho later convinced him to replace Varan and Anguirus with King Ghidorah and Mothra in order to make the film a box-office success. Principal photography began on May 11, 2001, in Studio 1 at Toho Studios and wrapped on August 9, 2001.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack had its premiere at the 16th Tokyo International Film Festival on November 3, 2001, and was released in Japan on December 15, as a double feature with Hamtaro: Adventures in Ham-Ham Land. The film received mostly critical acclaim and earned US$20 million against a budget of US$7–9 million, making it the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2002. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is now considered among the best Godzilla films. Takashi Yamazaki has cited the film as one of his favorites in the series and believes that it subconsciously inspired his own Godzilla film Godzilla Minus One (2023).

The film was followed by Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla which was released on December 14, 2002.

Plot
During a briefing with the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) regarding Godzilla's first attack, Admiral Taizo Tachibana is alerted about an American nuclear submarine that went missing off Guam. Search and rescue units find the submarine destroyed and capture footage of a giant creature's fins nearby. Tachibana's daughter, Yuri, films a docudrama with her production crew at Mount Myōkō, where a mysterious earthquake briefly occurs. It occurs again later that night, burying a biker gang and leaving one surviving trucker, who witnesses the monster Baragon, which he misidentifies as Godzilla. The next day, Yuri's colleague Teruaki Takeda supports her theory that a monster may have been the cause of the mysterious earthquakes and gives her a book called The Guardian Monsters.

At Lake Ikeda, Mothra in her larva form attacks a group of teenagers who disturbed her shrine while in Aokigahara, a suicidal man accidentally encounters a frozen 3,000-year-old dragon King Ghidorah. Yuri interviews Hirotoshi Isayama, an elderly man who explains to her the legend of the Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, iterating that they must be awakened before Godzilla destroys Japan. Yuri and her team visit the Guardian Monsters' shrine, where she finds a strange stone before returning to interview Isayama. In the process, she discovers that the souls of those who were killed during the Pacific War are embedded within Godzilla and are lashing out due to modern Japan's denial of its past crimes.

Godzilla and Baragon surface and battle in Hakone, with the former emerging victorious. Yuri is injured during the fray and goes on her own after Takeda refuses to take her to Godzilla's location. Mothra's cocoon is discovered in Lake Ikeda. After the jets fail to stop Godzilla, Tachibana sets up a defense line in Yokohama. An imago Mothra and a juvenile King Ghidorah awaken and battle Godzilla in Yokohama. Mothra sacrifices herself and imbues her spirit into King Ghidorah, empowering it. King Ghidorah manages to injure and drag Godzilla underwater. Tachibana and his colleague board miniature submarines to launch missiles into Godzilla's wound. Yuri and Takeda report on the struggle from Yokohama Bay Bridge that later collapses from Godzilla's atomic breath.

The shrine stone falls from Takeda's pocket and revives King Ghidorah, who saves Yuri and Takeda from their fall before they swim ashore while the monsters continue to fight. Godzilla destroys King Ghidorah, unleashing the spirits of the guardian monsters, which drag Godzilla into the sea. After entering Godzilla's body through its mouth, Tachibana fires a missile at the wound. Godzilla attempts to kill Yuri and Takeda, but Tachibana's missile explodes, causing its atomic breath to escape through the gaping wound and build pressure within its body. Tachibana escapes as Godzilla sinks and explodes after attempting to kill Tachibana with its atomic breath. Japan rejoices at their victory, with Tachibana saluting his colleagues and the guardian monsters. On the ocean floor, Godzilla's disembodied heart continues to beat.

Development and writing
During the production of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), filmmaker Shusuke Kaneko was appointed director of the next Godzilla film by Toho producer Shōgo Tomiyama. Kaneko was entrusted to convert the film's premise as well as select its crew, hiring many of his collaborators on his Gamera film trilogy (1995-1999), and other films he had directed.

Kaneko cycled through various script ideas while attempting to conceive the film, with his initial proposal having Godzilla battle Kamacuras, his son's favorite kaiju. However, it was scrapped because Godzilla had fought another insectoid kaiju in the previous film, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. After Toho disapproved of Kaneko's second proposal, concerning Godzilla facing off against an astronaut who becomes a monster after being exposed to cosmic rays, Kaneko converted the idea of the monster fighting three divine kaiju that he suggested be Anguirus, Varan and Baragon. Toho approved the script, but told him to replace Anguirus and Varan with the more popular Mothra and King Ghidorah, as the former kaiju were not considered bankable enough to guarantee a box-office hit. After silently considering Toho's suggestion in the company's office for fifteen minutes, Kaneko concluded that he could meet their requirements for the film despite his initial skepticism.

Kaneko co-wrote the film's screenplay with Keiichi Hasegawa and Masahiro Yokotani, which had Godzilla's role replacing that of King Ghidorah in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Furthermore, Godzilla's radioactive element was replaced with a mystical element, as its origins are rooted in Japan's past during World War II. While Godzilla is still a mutant dinosaur that was created by the atomic bomb, it is also described as the embodiment of those killed or left to die at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War. The extent to which his nuclear and spiritual origins balance is never specified. Kaneko, a lifelong pacifist, wanted to give the film an anti-war angle. The nuclear origin was left in because he knew that audiences wanted a realistic Godzilla, but he believed it worked better with a fantasy element. The screenwriters completed the script for the film on April 20, 2001.

A reference to Godzilla (1998) featured in the film was converted and added by Kaneko in an early draft of the script as a joke due to that film's unpopularity. The inclusion of the dialogue about a similar monster attacking New York a few years before reinforces that monsters exist worldwide in the film's universe.

Filming
Principal photography began on May 11, 2001, in Studio 1 at Toho Studios. The first two scenes filmed were the encounters with the frozen Ghidorah, for which a set was created to depict the interior of a cave; Yukijirō Hotaru's scene at the location was shot on the first day, with Hideyo Amamoto's shot the following day. At the start of photography, Kaneko expressed on-set that he felt "One difference between Toho and Daiei is the quality of the sets. On Gamera, we had little money, so I had to film on location. At Toho, with over twice the budget, I can have sets built to order."

The three months of filming wrapped on August 9, 2001.

Special effects
Special effects photography began on May 17, 2001, in Studio 9 at Toho Studios and concluded on August 24, 2001.

Box office
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack opened in Japan on December 15, 2001 on a double-bill with an animated film called Hamtaro: Ham Ham Big Land Adventure. In its opening weekend, it grossed approximately $1,900,000. By the end of its box office run, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack grossed a total of approximately ¥2.7 billion (US$20 million), with 2,400,000 admissions. It was one of the largest-grossing Godzilla films of the Millennium series in Japan. According to IGN, the film "rescued" the series since the two previous Millennium films were box-office bombs.

Home media
The film was released on DVD on January 27, 2004, and on Blu-ray, bundled with Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, on September 9, 2014.

English version
After the film was completed, Toho had their international versions of the movie dubbed in Hong Kong. This dubbed version significantly changes the meaning of several lines throughout the film.

Sony licensed GMK and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus with the hope of giving both films a theatrical release in the United States. However, after the American release of Godzilla 2000 under-performed at the box office, plans to give any newer Godzilla films a wide release were scrapped. Instead, Sony prepared edited television versions of both films. These premiered in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel on August 31, 2003, during the channel's Labor Day marathon. In February 2004, the uncut international versions of both films were released on DVD with the addition of the original Japanese soundtracks, a first for an American release of a Godzilla film.

Critical response
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack received mostly international critical acclaim upon its release. .

Hobby Japan editor Katsuhito Itō felt the film is the second greatest entry in the franchise after the original 1954 film. Troy Guinn of Eccentric Cinema gave the film a score of 8 out of 10, calling it "one of only three Godzilla films I would recommend to anyone besides giant monster-movie fans or sci-fi buffs, the other two being the original Gojira [sic] and Mothra vs. Godzilla." Bryan Byun of DVD Verdict gave it a positive review, calling it "one of the most exciting entries in Godzilla's long cinematic history." Stomp Tokyo gave the film a score of 3 out of 5, calling it "one of the better-looking entries in the series, albeit one of unfulfilled potential."

John Wallis of DVD Talk felt that "the story is quite weak and somber" and that "this new take on [Godzilla] doesn't really work," while Gemma Tarlach of the Milwaukee Journal said that "GMK is best when it embraces its unabashed cheesiness. But when it tries to make Statements with Meaning, whether on Japan's past aggressions or ersatz samurai ruminations on the duty of a warrior, the movie flounders like a giant lizard hogtied by power lines." Film critic Leonard Maltin gave it three out of four stars, one of only three Godzilla films to receive more than two and a half stars, with the others being Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla 2000. The Boston Globe film critic Wesley Morris gave it three out of four stars, writing: "as absurd as its title, and by those standards it's a hilarious success." Jamie Healy of the Radio Times rated it 3 out of 5 saying that as a result of the sheer power of Godzilla "this project comes slightly undone, as he's made into such an all-conquering badass as to be nigh-on indestructible."

Legacy
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is now considered by many to be one of the best entries in the Godzilla franchise. In 2021, it was ranked at number 14 on Variety 's list "All the Godzilla Movies Ranked" In 2023, Collider ranked GMK as the best film in the series, listing it higher than the acclaimed Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995). That same year, Comic Book Resources listed it number 12 on their ranking of every film. As of October 26, 2023, it is the 18th highest-rated Godzilla film on Rotten Tomatoes.

In 2023, critically-acclaimed filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki cited Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as his favorite Godzilla film. He stated in a discussion with Kaneko at a screening of GMK, that the film had a major influence on his 2023 film Godzilla Minus One. He reflected: "I had forgotten the contents of GMK for a while, but it seems like I self-consciously thought about it when writing the scenario for -1.0. Without realizing it, I was under considerable influence".