Since the release of the very first teaser and trailer for Godzilla: King of The Monsters at Hall H back in July for San Diego Comic Con 2018, it was assumed, much like other year-away releases, would avoid much further detail reveals for said film until much later. However, the marketing team for next year’s Monster showdown has been anything but subtle; the inclusion of the Monarch website has been a great SEM tool for fans to have access to details and information that the fictional corporation had collected on the creatures, or “Titans”, as well as tracking the Big G himself and further teasing of new developments, and Legendary has yet to slowdown from there. On the Saturday of Tokyo Comic Con 2018, Director Michael Dougherty introduced three new concept designs for the creatures Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah, a slightly updated design for Godzilla, and a small teaser that hints at remastered version of Godzilla’s theme as well as many other confirmations!
Before gets ahead of themselves, Dougherty made it very clear that the concept designs released were not finalized, rather the designs in the final product would be more refined, distinctive, and elaborate. Opening by showing the concept for Mothra, it appears the ancient guardian will be taking design cues from films such as Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, in which Mothra has a thinner, more battle-ready design. An interesting inclusion of detail is the idea that the eyes on Mothra’s wings are more representative of Godzilla’s eyes than they have in the past. Based on the concept, it appears that Mothra’s wingspan will be dominating over her body size, an interesting change from the past as she looks intimidating now more than ever before.
Dougherty then would introduce the concept design for Rodan. And while Rodan has had a relatively consistent design over the years, a few changes have been made such as the exclusion of feathers and larger focus on the rocky texture of the volcanic creature. Feathers are however in excess through the concept art, giving Rodan more of a Phoenix-look rather than that of a giant-Pterosaur.
The final few pieces of concept art would feature both Godzilla and King Ghidorah as the spotlights. Ghidorah, sporting a similar design to his original, does appear to have much more emphasis on the size of the necks and heads, an increase in wingspan, while keeping the body rather compressed than previously seen in other iterations. But if I am being completely honest; I would hate for the filmmakers to do anything radical with the creature designs, let alone Ghidorah. It had also become known for quite some time that Godzilla: King of The Monsters would feature three different motion capture actors for the heads of Ghidorah, but a new detail that Dougherty shared with the crowd was that each head would be distinctive in action and emotion, describing the differences as one head being much more clever than the other two, a distinction that has never been made for Ghidorah before. There is also hint at an underwater confrontation between the two beasts based on the second piece of concept art shown.
Dougherty also elaborated more on the small changes made towards Godzilla’s design, stating that while he was very impressed with the Godzilla 2014 version from Gareth Edwards, he felt the King of The Monsters needed an update to the dorsal fins more akin to the 1954 version from Gojira. Finally, Dougherty revealed a small teaser announcing the release of the new international trailer for the film next week, as well as announcing that there would be refined versions of both Godzilla and Mothra’s original themes from the Showa-era. This aligns with previous claims that the creatures, including King Ghidorah, would have revitalized roars similar to their originals.
To finish the showcase, Bandai revealed their new S.H. MonsterArts figures of the creatures in the film, providing an up-close look for attendees of the details and intricacies of the monsters which would have release and pre-order plans set for January 9th.
Godzilla: King of The Monsters will be released in both North America and Japan on May 31st, 2019. The film is Directed by Michael Dougherty (Krampus), Written by Zach Shields (also Krampus), and stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Source: Tokyo Comic Con Panel
Photos Courtesy of: Anime News Network, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-12-01/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-film-monster-design-concepts-figures-unveiled/.140218
