Legendary’s Monsterverse is a billion-dollar juggernaut at the box office, but it may have looked completely different if not for one much-maligned entry inGodzilla’s lengthy filmography. The world’s most famous monster has had a complicated history, as he has passed between the Japanese production company Toho and multiple American studios during his 70-year history on the big screen. While the majority of his movies have been produced by Toho, they have allowed American studios the opportunity to makeGodzilla movieswithin the last 30 years, providing a new perspective on the atomic lizard.
The ever-expanding Monsterversefrom Legendary Studios, which combines Godzilla and other Toho monsters with Kong and original kaiju created by Legendary, is by far the most successful non-Japanese version of Godzilla. However, that massive combined cinematic universe might not exist in its current state if not for the first American Godzilla movie. Inspired byX user @kaijupictures, I examined how that movie’s failure ultimately paved the way for the Monsterverse, and if it had been a success, the entire trajectory of the character of Godzilla could have been very different.
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The Failure Of Tristar’s Godzilla Changed The Trajectory Of The Godzilla Franchise
It Significantly Altered The Franchise’s Timeline
TriStar’sGodzillahad a lot going for it on paper, with Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, the team behind the record-breaking box office smashIndependence Day, at the helm of the fairly well-funded and well-marketed blockbuster.It was also supposed to kick off a trilogy of Godzilla movies, and with tons of source material to draw on, there was plenty of reason for optimism. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out thanks to some brutal acting performances, an ill-conceived and heartless plot, and perhaps most importantly, a vast departure from Godzilla’s well-known and beloved design.
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Toho originally agreed to put their Godzilla on the shelf for a 10-year hiatus following the definitive emotional end point that was 1995’sGodzilla vs. Destoroyahso that TriStar could pursue their trilogy. However,the failure of the originalGodzillaeroded the studio’s faith in the franchise, and the trilogy fell apart from there. As a result, Toho kick-started a new slate of rapid-fire Godzilla adventures in what became known as the Millennium Era, beginning withGodzilla 2000: Millennium, which saw the beloved monster (with a fresh redesign) take on the hybrid mutant alien Orga.
The Monsterverse Might Have Never Come Together If Tristar’s Godzilla Was Good
It Would Have Kicked Off A Trilogy
IfGodzillawas the box-office monster that it was supposed to be (and received even middling reviews as opposed to brutal ones), TriStar would likely have moved forward with their trilogy, and would have probably eaten up all of Toho’s 10-year hiatus.Toho’s slate could have looked very different with an additional five years of time to develop. They may have decided to forego suitmation in favor of more CGI-heavy adventures, for example. In theory, they wouldn’t have had control over Godzilla for his 50th anniversary in 2004, so the iconic kaiju-cameo-loaded finaleGodzilla: Final Warsmay never have happened.
The screenplay for TriStar’sGodzillasequel would have seen the adult offspring of the first movie’s mutated marine iguana square off against a termite-like insectoid kaiju nicknamed “Queen Bitch” and her hordes.
If TriStar’s trilogy had been successful, then parent company Sony would likely have maintained the relationship with Toho and sought to make more American Godzilla movies. While the screenplay for the TriStar sequel was fully fleshed out and reportedly didn’t include any Toho monsters,a successful trilogy likely would have seen them lobby for a licensing agreement like what Legendary currently has with Toho. The elaborate, fully-formed world of the Monsterverse with multiple monstrous stars wouldn’t exist; it would still be an entirely Godzilla-centric franchise.
How The Monsterverse Might Have Changed If Tristar’s Trilogy Worked Out
The Current Monsterverse’s Priorities Might Be Drastically Different
We know from the end of TriStar’sGodzillaand the script for the unproducedGodzilla 2that the original trilogy was set to focus on Godzilla and its offspring. Meanwhile,the Monsterverse has essentially become a superhero franchise with Kong and Godzilla as the two main stars, on equal footing with each other in the world. In fact, some Monsterverse fans lament the fact that the last two movies have been seemingly more Kong-focused, and look forward to the sequel toGodzilla X Kong: The New Empirereturning to Godzilla as the primary character.
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It was the minds at Legendary that pushed for a holistic universe that included an array of monsters as opposed to just Godzilla. In an interview withSyfy, Monsterverse writer Max Borenstein noted thatit was Legendary CEO Thomas Tull, who first pushed for integrating Kong into Godzilla’s world, with the ultimate end game of having the two monsters face off. Obviously, the franchise has expanded far beyond that original concept, but without the influence of Legendary it’s likely that the focus of TriStar/Sony’s American Godzilla movies would have remained much less complex.
What Legendary And Toho’s Godzilla Relationship Looks Like Currently
The Two Companies Have A Constantly-Evolving Agreement
The exact details of Toho’s relationship with Legendary have been kept largely private, but there are some basic principles that are public knowledge. For example,it’s understood that Toho licenses their characters on a case-by-case basis; it was big news at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 when Gareth Edwards revealed that Legendary had secured the rights to Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, who would of course go on to star alongside Godzilla in 2019’sGodzilla: King of the Monsters. Likewise, Adam Wingard had a completely original monster ready forGodzilla X Kongif the rights to Mothra couldn’t be secured.
If Legendary couldn’t obtain the rights to Mothra, Wingard and co. would have used an original monster named Phosphera in the peacekeeper role between Kong and Godzilla against the threat of Shimo and Skar King. An image of Phosphera appears on the walls of the Iwi temple in the Hollow Earth inGodzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
One key to Toho and Legendary’s arrangement is that they do not have Godzilla movies competing against one another on a yearly basis. While Legendary’s Monsterverse has been allowed to flourish,it hasn’t done anything to stop Toho from producing two of the finest Godzilla movies everin the years since Gareth Edwards' 2014 reboot.Shin GodzillaandGodzilla Minus Onehave received near-universal praise, anda sequel toGodzilla Minus Oneis already in the works. However, those movies released in years that didn’t include a Monsterverse release.
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It’s anticipated that the agreement between Toho and Legendary will continue in this fashion moving forward. As the sequel toGodzilla X Konghas a March 2027 release date,audiences can likely expect theGodzilla Minus Onesequel some time in 2028 or 2029 (although I wouldn’t rule out mid-late 2026, either). While manyGodzillafans have speculated that the next entry in the Monsterverse could introduce one of Toho’s other big bads like Gigan, Destoroyah, or Hedorah, it remains to be seen if Toho agrees to allow any of those monsters to touch down in American cinema.
