For the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla series, in the movie finale FINAL WARS, the American Godzilla will be making an appearance. The X-seijin who plan on conquering the earth, create and release a murderous kaiju called Zilla in Sydney, Australia. An all-out battle unfolds between Zilla and Godzilla. In this dream battle between the Japanese and American Godzilla, Kitamura said with confidence, "I wanted to do something that nobody would expect."
The American Godzilla has a gigantic head, a long tail that makes you think of a lizard and thin limbs. After 6 years since its debut, it's been revived. Now he challenges the Japanese Godzilla for the title of "Godzilla".
Even in Japan, Godzilla (98' American version) was a hit, taking in around 30 million dollars. However, there was a controversy about the design regarding the pros and cons of it. Director Kitamura is one of the critics too, and says he can watch and enjoy the American Godzilla if he keeps in mind that this is not the real Godzilla. In order to have the Japanese Godzilla protect his own namesake, the American Godzilla was selected to do battle with him.
The production staff makes sure the rights to use Godzilla are exclusive to Toho. In America there are imitation products on the market that have the name"Zilla."Producer Tomiyama has the ability to get rid of these products if he chooses to. Tomiyama thinks that the American Godzilla is a representation of these imitation products therefore he named the American Godzilla in FINAL WARS simply "Zilla". The significance of this perfectly suits this kaiju who has had the word "God" taken out from the name "Godzilla".
When Zilla appears in Sydney, humanity's last hope is a revived Godzilla who is beneath the ice in Antarctica to do battle with it. The details of the battle are under wraps, but the Sydney street will be decimated. Kitamura, who studied film direction in Australia, said it would be an honor to have Godzilla destroy his second home.
"I want to compete with America. I want to overwhelm the American Godzilla (which is a symbol of CG) with the Japanese technique of suitmation,"says Kitamura. In the movie, Godzilla is made from a suit, and Zilla is made from CG. "I'm putting in the movie what people all over the world want...Zilla. I want to reach the height of the series and return Godzilla back to being strong and cool again. There are times also when Godzilla behaves affectionately and humorously which I think will make Roland Emmerich laugh if he sees this movie," Kitamura says with confidence. FINAL WARS opens December 4th.