Godzilla 30th Anniversary Exhibition

ゴジラ映画第一作は昭和29年の「ゴジラ」。以後、50年の「メカゴジラの逆襲」まで15本が製作されたが、興行的不振でシリーズもそれまで。ところが最近、なぜかゴジラが異様な人気に包まれているのだ。昨年には新宿NSビルで「生誕30年大ゴジラ展」が開かれ、ゴジラファンが殺到。ゴジラが登場するテレビCMも現われれば、各地の映画館ではオールナイトでリバイバル上映。なんと21万人の観客を動員してしまった。その強烈なブームに動かされてか、ついに東宝もゴジラの生みの親である田中友幸プロデューサー(現東宝社長)を中心にゴジラ復活準備委員会を発足、9年ぶりに新作を製作する運びとあいなった。果して、『ゴジラの逆襲」はあいなることか?

The first Godzilla movie was “Godzilla” in 1954. Since then, 15 films were made up until “Terror of MechaGodzilla” in 1975, but the series ended due to poor box office results. However, Godzilla has recently become strangely popular. Last year, the Shinjuku NS Building held the “Godzilla 30th Anniversary Exhibition,” which drew a flood of Godzilla fans. A TV commercial featuring Godzilla appeared, and movie theaters across the country held all-night revival screenings. They attracted an amazing 210,000 people. Perhaps driven by this huge boom, Toho finally formed a Godzilla Revival Preparation Committee, led by Godzilla’s creator, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka (current president of Toho), and decided to make a new movie for the first time in nine years. Will “Godzilla Returns” actually be a success?