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2024 FANON WIKI AWARD WINNER! |
- ❝ Destroy and terrorize❞
- ―Tagline
- ❝ From the director of Rogue One and The Creator❞
- ―Tagline
Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla is a 2029 American kaiju comedy meta film co-written, co-produced and directed by Gareth Edwards. Produced by Legendary Pictures and Regency Enterprises, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the eighth film in the MonsterVerse, the 44th film of the Godzilla franchise, and the seventh Godzilla film to be completely produced by an American film studio. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, CJ Adams, John David Washington, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins and Ben Mendelsohn. The film is about director Gareth Edwards's original ideas for his sequel to Godzilla played out, pitched to Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, before abandoning the project in favor of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Gareth Edwards was initially set to direct a sequel to Godzilla, which he later dropped the project. The film would eventually be reworked into 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which was released to mixed reviews and became a box office disappointment. While the MonsterVerse was ongoing, Edwards proposed to make his own sequel to Godzilla, suggesting a rebooted timeline in the midst of the ongoing MonsterVerse. While Legendary gained cold feet, Edwards cited the Transformers film series, with it having an animated remake in the midst of the live-action films, to prove that audiences wouldn't get confused between the main timeline and the rebooted timeline. The film was finally greenlit on November 2026. Principal photography began in July 2027 and wrapped in November 2027, on a production budget of $180 million.
Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla was released on March 21, 2029 in the United States, the 55th anniversary of the Japanese release of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. The film received positive reviews, receiving praise towards its Edwards's direction, visual effects, action sequences and sound design, and was deemed superior to its predecessor, though criticism was directed at its pacing and characters. The usage of meta humor polarized critics and audiences. The film grossed $625.9 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of the MonsterVerse at the time, the second-highest-grossing in the Godzilla franchise at the time and the eighth-highest grossing film of 2029. It won Best Sound, and was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 102nd Academy Awards.
Plot[]
At Legendary Pictures, director Gareth Edwards is notified of the success of his film, Godzilla. He spends a couple weeks devising a script with Max Borenstein. He approaches producer Thomas Tull's office about the idea. When Tull asks him to open up, Edwards lays his script on his table and begins to tell the story.
Ever since the events of Godzilla, the United Nations gave supplies to Monarch Sciences, as well as its engineering subsidary, Monarch Industries, to research more about the MUTOs, and to build a counterattack to the MUTOs ravaging the world. They supplied Monarch with a $650 billion budget, to use it for their research for their builds. During this time, they hired engineers, builders and programmers to build a mechanical titan to protect themselves from other ravaging MUTOs. By 2029, most, if not all, of Monarch's resources were injected into the construction of the mechanical monster at the foot of Denali, with the project dubbed "Project Mechagodzilla," named after the monster himself "Godzilla," being recreated in a mechanical image. Despite the lesser sightings of MUTOs during these times, the project was quick in production, and was over-sought by Phillip Nolan. Ford Brody, having been active in the military after recovering from his injuries, was still a Navy EOD specialist. His wife, Elle Brody, was a military nurse. They were in the Russo-American War, with hundreds of casualties piling up. The MUTOs don't attack the Russian landscape, as sometimes it would be overly stormy and cold for most MUTOs to survive. "Project Mechagodzilla" hoped that, as well as protecting the nations worldwide against MUTO attacks, it would suppress the Russian government after a grueling 6 years of war.
In the meantime, their son Sam became the lead engineer and programmer of the project. Several months later, Project Mechagodzilla had finished its construction, with the programming and user interface (UI) team taking over for configuration of piloting and control mechanisms. Sam tells his father and mother, who were pulled out of the war and visited the construction site, that his team programmed Mechagodzilla with the footage of the MUTOs running rampant. He explained that Mechagodzilla's weapons and programming can contain the MUTOs from attacking cities, and called the UI program "Gematron." Ford is then called to an underground MUTO containment area in Greenland to observe.
As Ford enters the area, he is greeted by SOF Sergeant Josh Evans, and Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, who informs them that the MUTO housed there has suddenly become incredibly active after laying dormany previously. As they enter an observation room overlooking a large chamber, they gaze upon a giant monster, with a armored back, as well as a spiked tail. The peaceful moment is interrupted by a bomb explosion that strikes the observation room. Armed assailants enter the room and promptly gun down most of the personnel, some being killed, but Ford managed to fight back with a spare M-16, helping Ford, Serizawa and Evans to escape. Unfortunately, the sound of loud gunfire awoke the MUTO and broke out of the ground, destroying the subterranean facility and narrowly almost killing the three.
Meanwhile, another raid by a terrorist group was being conducted on the base of Mechagodzilla. As they head into the control room and hack into Monarch's files to get schematics on the robot, Mechagodzilla, with its UI detection system, triggers the alarm system, while also installing an antivirus to prevent any more files from being hacked. Mechagodzilla also activated the door lock, trapping the terrorists inside. Within seconds of the alarm, Sam gets an alarm, saying that a group of unidentified people have broken into the base. He calls for backup to go to the base of Denali. However, once he arrives with some soldiers, they escaped, having blown out the rooftop and ran away. Sam looks up at Mechagodzilla, being proud of his creation for protecting any more files from escaping.
Meanwhile, Dr. Vivienne Graham visits another MUTO outpost located in Siberia, to bear witness to a MUTO of incredible power, with it next to a carcass with a nest of eggs. Graham calls it "MUTO Prime," due to its anatomy showing it being the source of those MUTO spores back in 1999. It was beginning to wake as well, after resting inside the ice for many years. The civilians in the village below witness the ice begin to erupt, after which the huge creature emerges from the extinct volcano's crater. Fighter jets open fire on the MUTO Prime, angering it to the point it gallops and pursues them. As Prime stomps through the nearby village, it tore buildings from the ground and launched debris, vehicles, and even people into the sky. Ground troops save as many citizens as they can and evacuates them onto a V-2 Osprey. Having had enough, MUTO Prime shoots the fighters down with a sonic roar, in stark contrast to EMPs used by regular MUTOs. At the same time, the underground MUTO is on its way to mainland Canada, which Graham notifies Monarch immediately. Right as she hangs up, she sees a mountain of spikes breaking through the surface of the water. She was terrified and tried to call back to their base in Denali, but she couldn't receive any connection.
Serizawa spoke with Philip Nolan, who was on his way back to the base with Sam, and both had determined that the only way to stop the MUTOs was to lure it to Mechagodzilla, and to test out the new weapon on them. The military lures the underground MUTO on path towards Denali. Mechagodzilla is promptly activated and engaged, piloted by Sam, in tandom with the UI. The MUTO charges directly at him and attacking, and the two monsters tear into each other with their claws and teeth, prompting Ford, who was there, to remark that they're killing each other. Despite Mechagodzilla's superior arsenal and physicality, the monster's agility proved too much for the Mech, dodging its punches and the new Atomizer Laser Beam deployed into its arsenal. A stray punch disoriented the creature, before Mechagodzilla repeatedly slammed it against the terrain. Mechagodzilla brutally beats up the creature, before ripping its mouth open and firing its Atomizer Laser Beam down its throat, something that Sam had been told by his father on how Godzilla killed its MUTO.
Just then, Godzilla emerges from the water to see the carnage. He sees that the MUTO he was chasing had been dispatched by the giant hulking mech. He leaves to chase the MUTO Prime. Suddenly, the UI that Mechagodzilla used, Gematron, suddenly woke and became sentient. The terrorists implemented a virus into the Mech's UI, turning it into an AI, or artificial intelligence. He surfaced through the web, and saw every destructive act humanity and the MUTOs did since the 1940s. Right when Godzilla stepped into the water, Gematron took over the Mechagodzilla body, and roared at Godzilla to challenge him. It fired its Atomizer Beam at Godzilla, making him reel in pain. Godzilla turns around and challenges Mechagodzilla, with the two monsters charging at each other. Mechagodzilla managed to overpower Godzilla, damaging him enough to make him flee quickly. Upon this victory, Mechagodzilla transforms into a flying warship and flies into the sky, avoiding Godzilla's atomic breath, using its experimental rocket boosters to wreak havoc and cause the MUTOs' and humanity's extinction.
News of this breaks across Monarch, and they are currently doing their all to find the perpetrator of the attack. The personnel at Monarch can only watch hopelessly as Mechagodzilla lands in Boston, tearing through the stadium and destroying several of the city's blocks. The MUTO Prime had emerged from the Boston Harbor to challenge it. Mechagodzilla's array of weapons easily overpowered the MUTO Prime. Rather than killing it however, the mech opted to use Prime as an asset that would help it kill Godzilla. Using a radio dish, it activates a frequency that gives control over the MUTO. It then flies up to the sky, with MUTO Prime following it, where Serizawa determines a trajectory towards Osaka. Ford and Sam devise a plan that might help disorient Mechagodzilla for a little.
Ford, Josh and Sam make their way to Osaka, via plane, where civilians are being evacuated from the quickly approaching Mechagodzilla, to use a sonar device to disrupt Mechagodzilla's piloting software. Upon arriving, Ford sets up the device with Sam and Josh on top of the Osaka Castle. Before he can finish the process, Philip Nolan and his men surround them at the balcony. Nolan admits that he was the one who planned the break-in, for he had a vendetta against humanity for its reckless actions and that the rogue Mechagodzilla would go ahead and rid the world of bad humans, and mocks Ford's preoccupation with distracting Mechagodzilla. However, Ford draws his gun at Nolan and shoots him, hitting him in the shoulder, prompting a shoot-out to ensue on the top floor, with Nolan escaping. Ford and Josh managed to incapacitate all the soldiers, with Josh taking a bullet to the leg, and Ford almost having his hand shot off. With Mechagodzilla now landing on Osaka, they activate the sonar device through a large speaker, which stuns it, before knocking the tower over.
Upon arrival, Mechagodzilla traces them to the castle. Just as they were about to be pummeled, Mechagodzilla is knocked off its feet by a blast of atomic breath. Ford turns to see Godzilla triumphantly march into the city, accompanied by a full military escort. After Mechagodzilla gets back up, Godzilla begins running at his foe and the two titans collide with each other, producing a shockwave that almost stunned the three fleeing people. Godzilla begins to gain the upper hand over Mechagodzilla, but Mechagodzilla pins Godzilla's head against a building and collapses it into his body. Godzilla tries to free his body from the rubble but Mechagodzilla seizes the opportunity to tackle him through the ruined city block. MUTO Prime, who arrived late, finally joined the tackle in Godzilla. A beam lock between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla proved the former to have no match against his opponent.
Mechagodzilla and the Prime continue badly beating Godzilla, then the former grabs him by the mouth and begins prying his jaws apart. Ford and Sam, seeing this, quickly try to connect another radio dish. Just before Mechagodzilla can fire its Atomizer Laser Beam down Godzilla's throat, the military, the duo successfully managed to hack into a dish in time, and they replay their sonar wave at the two monsters. Mechagodzilla became even more disoriented, and MUTO Prime was overly sensitive to it that it broke free from Mechagodzilla's mind control. Godzilla then tackles the mecha through another building to the ground. Mechagodzilla gets back up and grapples with Godzilla. The robot is still too powerful and knocks him aside. The King of the Monsters see the collapsed speaker tower and grab it, then begin swinging it at Mechagodzilla. Mechagodzilla pins him against a building and knocks him down again. As Mechagodzilla goes for another finishing blow, MUTO Prime tackles Mechagodzilla, repeatedly pummeling it with her bare arms.
Godzilla, seeing an opening, incinerates the chest of Mechagodzilla with atomic breath. A tail swing completely disintegrated the ashes off of its chest area. MUTO Prime, following this, unleashes her sonic roar into the internal mechanisms of Mechagodzilla, busting and igniting all of its eternal mechanisms. Causing it to stall, rendering it completely helpless against the ruthless Godzilla, the King of the Monsters tossed into Osaka Bay, where Godzilla immolated the rest of the iron titan with his atomic breath, putting an end to Mechagodzilla's terror. Godzilla, staring at the MUTO Prime, growls at the creature, as she gestures to him in a submissive and timid manner.
In the meantime, Ford, Sam and Josh all make it out of the rubble. The former two tell Elle that they survived and that they defeated Mechagodzilla. Nolan, who was found within the rubble of Osaka Castle, was promptly arrested for terrorist acts. Ford and Sam look up at the King of the Monsters, Godzilla, swimming back to the sea, to finally recover and live out his days in peace.
When all was said and done, Tull congratulated him for such a brilliant idea, and was about to promptly start pre-production. Edwards, however, apologetically declined the offer, stating that he was already off to make a Star Wars film, and asked Tull to find a suitable replacement. After giving him one last message of allowing the studio to use any of his ideas, Edwards leaves his office, Tull just throws his hands in the air and yells in his office. He gets on the phone with another director Michael.
Main credits[]
- Directed by: Gareth Edwards
- Screenplay by: Arvid Nelson & Gareth Edwards & Max Borenstein
- Story by: Gareth Edwards & Max Borenstein and Michael Dougherty & Zach Shields
- Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Gareth Edwards, Kiri Hart, Jim Spencer and Arnon Milchan
- Executive producers: Arvid Nelson, Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira
- Director of photography: Oren Soffer
- Production design by: James Clyne
- Edited by: Roger Barton
- Music by: Lorne Balfe
- Visual effects supervisor: John Knoll
Cast[]
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford Brody, the son of the deceased Joe and Sandra Brody, who became a United States Navy EOD lieutenant
- CJ Adams as Sam Brody, son of Ford and Elle Brody, who works as the lead engineer and programmer at Monarch Industries, and co-creator and designer of Mechagodzilla
- John David Washington as Josh Evans, American Special Operation Forces sergeant
- Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
- Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody
- Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham
- Ben Mendelsohn as Phillip Nolan, CEO of Monarch Industries, and co-creator and designer of Mechagodzilla
Gareth Edwards and Thomas Tull both play themselves in the opening and ending. Michael Dougherty plays himself via a voice cameo at the end of the film, but goes uncredited.
Production[]
Development[]
Gareth Edwards, co-writer, director and producer of Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla, and original director attached to Godzilla 2
Gareth Edwards was initially set to direct a sequel to 2014's Godzilla, which he later dropped the project. The film would eventually be reworked into 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which was released to mixed reviews and became a box office disappointment. While the MonsterVerse was ongoing, with the release of 2026's Godzilla: Modern Warfare, Edwards proposed to make his own sequel to Godzilla, suggesting a rebooted timeline in the midst of the ongoing MonsterVerse. While Legendary gained cold feet and producer Thomas Tull doubted this approach, Edwards cited the Transformers film series, with it having an animated remake in the midst of the live-action films, to prove that audiences wouldn't get confused between the main timeline and the rebooted timeline. The film was finally greenlit on November 2026.
Pre-production and writing[]
In Edwards and co-writer Max Borenstein's original story, Mechagodzilla was slated to be the film's villain. However, this was changed to King Ghidorah, once he left the project. They brought back this idea when writing the story for this film, and because the film was limited to the continuity of the mainline MonsterVerse films, Edwards was told that he could do "whatever [he] wanted to do," said by Edwards himself. Since he worked on The Creator four years prior, he decided to apply artificial intelligence into Mechagodzilla. However, unlike The Creator, which depicted the AI robots as sympathetic and emotional beings, Mechagodzilla was made to be a ruthless and coldhearted villain, who was bent on the destruction of Godzilla and the rest of the world.
- ❝ The old Mechagodzilla, according to this one book I read, had its personality described as a "nihilistic killer, and a consistently coldhearted and composed professional." This is of course because it's a mech, and its true feelings cannot be felt. We tried to ground ourselves in those roots; previous iterations were heroic or didn't portray his evil persona enough. We brought that out to its fullest.❞
- ―Gareth Edwards, at 2028 San Diego Comic-Con
Originally, the film was going to be straight duel between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. However, because Edwards was a big fan of Terror of Mechagodzilla, and producer Arnon Milchan mandated that another monster make an appearance, Edwards decided to attempt to put out another monster in the fray. While Legendary already had the licenses to a plethora of Godzilla monsters, Edwards thought they wouldn't fit the tone of the film. He sought out the writing duo of Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields, who wrote Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in which Edwards told them to use the kaiju that would "most appropriately fit the film," whether Toho or original. Dougherty and Shields submitted an outline in the midst of their new film nearing the start of production; it used Anguirus and MUTO Prime, the former which Legendary managed to get the license to during the production of Godzilla x Kong: Monster Apocalypse but was scrapped, and the latter which was the main antagonist of Godzilla: Aftershock—the prequel graphic novel to King of the Monsters—and made its on-screen debut in Season 2's Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Similar to Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Anguirus would be the first monster that Mechagodzilla. However, the scene played out in the middle of the film as Mechagodzilla killing Anguirus, to demonstrate the strength of this creature. The MUTO Prime, in a similar fashion to Titanosaurus in Terror of Mechagodzilla, would be controlled by a separate entity; only the entity in this story would be the AI sending out a radio frequency to disorient and control Prime. Edwards gleefully accepted the draft, and he wrote the final screenplay with Max Borenstein and Arvid Nelson, the latter which wrote Godzilla: Aftershock, where MUTO Prime originated from. This would be Nelson's first screenwriting credit. Anguirus would be referred to as "MUTO" by the military, as in this universe, Monarch has not yet identified most monsters with proper names. MUTO Prime's full name would be first said by Vivienne Graham, when she realizes that this particular monster acts as a "mother of the MUTOs," just like how Aftershock and Legacy of Monsters depicts MUTO Prime.
Many of the film's action beats would take direct inspiration from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Kong. Edwards said that this was intentional to mix up the style between his seriousness and groundedness, as well as the fun elements of the mainline MonsterVerse films. Notable examples included Mechagodzilla's kiss of death to Anguirus, Mechagodzilla repeatedly pummeling Godzilla through multiple buildings as well as a moment where Mechagodzilla sputters out to an outside interference. Despite Godzilla being the titular character, Mechagodzilla would receive far more screentime than him, which was an intentional decision by Edwards, due to his emphasis on showing the "terror" in Terror of Mechagodzilla, which he decided to use as the film's subtitle. MG's design, rather than being mechanically more complex like in Godzilla vs. Kong, was designed to make it more anatomically aligned with Godzilla's body shape. Originally, Mechagodzilla was going to split and recombine into multiple pieces, referencing scrapped plans for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, where a transforming Mechagodzilla would've been used. However, Edwards wanted Mechagodzilla to still transform, akin to the live-action Transformers films. So he asked Godzilla series concept artist Shinji Nishikawa for some ideas, with one of them transforming into a flying aircraft carrier, akin to the Helicarrier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After redesigning it to become more akin to a flying battleship, the idea stuck with Edwards and incorporated into two of Mechagodzilla's scenes.
On April 2027, it was announced that Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and Sally Hawkins would reprise their roles from Godzilla. CJ Adams, who played young Ford Brody, would return as Sam Brody, the son of Ford and his wife, Elle. On May 2027, John David Washington and Ben Mendelsohn would be cast in roles for the film as well.
Filming[]
Principal photography began in July 2027 and wrapped in November 2027, on a production budget of $180 million. Parts of the film were shot natively in Osaka, Japan and at the foot of Denali. Oren Soffer, best known for his work on The Creator, shot the film on 1.90:1 IMAX format, making it Edwards's first film shot in IMAX, as well as the third Godzilla film to be shot in the format.
Thomas Tull, producer of the film, was asked to act in the film's opening and ending as himself
Late into filming, Gareth Edwards wanted to make the distinction of his film, that this was not "in-universe canon" to the mainline MonsterVerse, much more obvious. After principal photography wrapped in November, he asked Tull to shoot a bit with him at his office, to turn it into a meta film. Because they didn't have any access to any film cameras, as all were returned back to the IMAX corporation, Edwards asked King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty, when his film's pre-production session ended on January 2028, to shoot this quick bit on his iPhone 15 Pro. The surprise was when Edwards asked Dougherty to provide a voice cameo for the end of the film, this bit shot by Edwards.
Post-production[]
John Knoll, who worked on Edwards's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as story writer and visual effects supervisor, was production visual effects supervisor of this film. Industrial Light & Magic and Digital Domain provided the 1,190 VFX shots for the film. The VFX team was going to DougheGoji's model that has been used in subsequent films after Godzilla, but Edwards and Knoll used GareGoji instead, to keep Edwards's vision "alive and consistent." Still, the CG model went over some minor tweaks, mainly much sharper spines, and shared several traits with DougheGoji, with more pronounced feet and sharper claws. Whereas MPC's Godzilla model had 500,000 polygons, ILM's revamped model contained nearly 10 million polygons.
Mechagodzilla's CG modeling was based off Pacific Rim Jaegers, which their visual effects were also supervised by Knoll as well. According to Knoll and ILM visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar, Mechagodzilla's transforming scenes were the hardest to animate and process, especially with the fact that the model contained nearly 55 million polygons and 110,000 individual parts. As an uncalled throwback to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, two of ILM's computers exploded, due to the intense processing power that Mechagodzilla's transformations brought. Farrar called it "his most elaborate and complicated project since Dark of the Moon."
MUTO Prime's CG model for the film
MUTO Prime's CG model was based off the hardcover for Godzilla: Aftershock, where she, unlike the Prime 1 statue sculpt, looked more akin to the other MUTO species. She was given a pair of bigger forelimbs, in place of the female MUTO's two limbs, which had two splitting claws at the end. Anguirus's CG model was a much higher fidelity version, bought from Shirogumi for their work on Godzilla Plus Two, which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects during the time of the production for this film. Digital Domain animated the scene of MUTO Prime's emergence and all of Anguirus's scenes, and was supervised by Jay Barton.
Edwards was originally going to narrate the film, attributed to how he made it a meta film. However, he ultimately left it untouched throughout the entire runtime.
Music[]
Inspired by Dougherty's approach to reuse the classic themes from the Toho Godzilla movies for King of the Monsters, as well as the fact that Takashi Yamazaki most recently reused the themes for Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla Plus Two, he decided to also reuse the original theme as well. Lorne Balfe, who has worked on legacy soundtracks such as Terminator Genisys, the Mission: Impossible films and Top Gun: Maverick, was hired to compose the score for Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla.
Balfe listened through all of the franchise's tracks within the span of five months, during the time when the film was in the midst of principal photography. Out of the tracks, he loved Mothra vs. Godzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla the most. Specifically, he loved the main titles of the films. He used those themes for when Godzilla shows up during his two entrances in the film. Mechagodzilla's theme would be a combination between Godzilla's theme in Mothra vs. Godzilla, which was later used for one of his theme suites in Godzilla Minus One, and Mechagodzilla's theme from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.
Marketing[]
At 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, when Gareth Edwards was asked whether he'd return to make another Godzilla film, he replied with a smirk, stating, "What if I already am?" This took the audience by shock. Although the film was not yet greenlit, it took the fanbase by storm. The film would fully be unveiled at 2028 San Diego Comic-Con by Edwards and producer Thomas Tull, where a teaser trailer played. The first full trailer would be released on October 27, 2028. The meta humor of the film was hidden in all of the trailers and marketing.
Release[]
Theatrical[]
Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla premiered at Los Angeles on March 16, 2029, before releasing worldwide on March 21 in IMAX, 70mm, IMAX 70mm, 3D, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, 4DX, and ScreenX. This made it the first film in the franchise screened in 70mm and IMAX 70mm. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures except for Japan, where the film was distributed by Toho Co. Ltd instead.
Home media[]
The film released on Digital HD on May 31, 2029 and released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on June 16, 2029. The 4K release includes HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision high dynamic range, and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla grossed $214.7 million at the domestic box office and $411.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $625.9 million. This would mark the film as the second-highest-grossing film of the MonsterVerse, the second-highest-grossing in the Godzilla franchise, and the highest-grossing film at North American theaters (until 2030's Top Gun: Godzilla S.O.S.), and the eighth-highest grossing film of 2029.
Domestically, the film was projected to gross $110 million in its five-day opening, with $80-95 million in its three-day opening weekend. It grossed $119.8 million in its five-day opening, and $96.3 million in its three-day opening weekend, the highest in the franchise by far. Worldwide, the film opened up to $200.1 million, which also marked it as the highest worldwide opening weekend in the franchise by far. Roughly $23 million of the domestic opening gross came from IMAX sales, and $14 million came from IMAX 70mm. Its second weekend saw it drop by 62%, grossing $34.1 million, being second place to the newly released Armor Wars. The film grossed $21.5 million in its third weekend, and $12 million on its fourth.
Deadline Hollywood reported the film made $127.4 million in net profit, after factoring all expenses and revenues.
Critical reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 428 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla leaves a stamp on the audience on how powerful Gareth Edwards's idea on monsters can be, and how much potential was stored back in the 2010s when he was still attached." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 61 critics indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 83% and a 64% "definite recommend."
Accolades[]
| Award | Category | Recipients | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102nd Academy Awards | Best Sound | David Parker, Ian Voigt, Stuart Wilson, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn | Won |
| Best Visual Effects | John Knoll, Scott Farrar, Jay Barton and Neil Corbould | Nominated | |
| 83rd BAFTA Awards | Best Sound | David Parker, Ian Voigt, Stuart Wilson, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn | Won |
| Best Special Visual Effects | John Knoll, Scott Farrar, Jay Barton and Neil Corbould | Nominated | |
| 34th Satellite Awards | Best Visual Effects | Nominated | |
| 29th Visual Effects Society Awards | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | John Knoll, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Jay Barton and Neil Corbould | Nominated |
| Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature | Scott Benza, Liz Bernard, Mike Beaulieu and Mathew Cowie - Mechagodzilla | Won | |
| Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature | John Seru, Guy Williams, Vincent Techer, Timothée Maron - Mechagodzilla Base at Denali | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Photoreal Feature | Ben O-Brien, Juan Espigares Enriquez, Wesley Roberts and Hayes Brien | Won | |
| Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project | Roel Coucke, Christopher Potter, Amanda Johnstone-Batt and Jeremy Bloch | Nominated | |
| 57th Annie Awards | Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Production | Scott Benza, Liz Bernard, Mike Beaulieu and Mathew Cowie | Won |
| 57th Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla | Nominated |
| Best Director | Gareth Edwards | Won | |
| Best Music | Lorne Balfe | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects | John Knoll, Scott Farrar, Jay Barton and Neil Corbould | Nominated | |
| 29th IFMCA Awards | Film Score of the Year | Lorne Balfe | Won |
| Film Composer of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 29th World Soundtrack Awards | Nominated | ||
| 77th Golden Reel Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Effects / Foley | David Parker, Ian Voigt, Stuart Wilson, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn | Won |
| 35th Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Visual Effects | Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla | Won |
| 10th Critics' Choice Super Awards | Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie | Nominated | |
| 29th Golden Schmoes Awards | Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 28th Hollywood Professional Association Awards | Outstanding Visual Effects – Feature Film | John Knoll, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Jay Barton, Liz Bernard and Neil Corbould | Nominated |
| 30th Australian Effects & Animation Festival | Feature Film – VFX | Industrial Light & Magic | Silver |
| Feature Film – Sequence | Digital Domain - Mechagodzilla's Tranformation | Silver | |
| 53rd Japan Academy Film Prize | Best Foreign Language Film | Godzilla: Terror of Mechagodzilla | Won |
| 55th People's Choice Awards | The Action Movie of the Year | Nominated | |
| 14th Dragon Awards | Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie | Nominated | |
| 52nd Jupiter Awards | Best International Film | Won |
Trivia[]
- This would be Mechagodzilla's third distinct incarnation adapted by Hollywood, and the seventh film incarnation overall.
- This would be the franchise's first and only meta film to date.
- Mechagodzilla's win for Best Animated Character at the Visual Effects Society Awards marks the first kaiju to win a VES Award.