Godzilla Turned 25

8.7.2022

Last week in 1979 Toho commemorated Godzilla’s 25th anniversary with the Godzilla Movie Complete Works event (ゴジラ誕生25周年 ゴジラ映画大全集) held at the Nichigeki (Nippon) Theater in Yurakucho, Tokyo. The event featured each Godzilla Showa film daily including and other Toho special effects monster movies such as Rodan (1956) and Mothra (1961). Fan favorites, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla (ゴジラ対メカゴジラ, 1974), King Kong vs Godzilla (キングコング対ゴジラ, 1962) and Invasion of Astro Monster (怪獣大戦争, 1965) were screened every day. The movie event ran for twenty one days from Thursday, August 2 through Friday, August 24. On August 14, the U.S. version of Gojira (1954), Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956), featuring Raymond Burr, was also shown.

This Godzilla anniversary retrospective was very successful, selling 60,000 tickets and renewed enthusiasm in Japan for a new Godzilla movie. This amazing 1979 event occurred during the latest Godzilla toy boom and marked the midway point between Godzilla’s retirement in 1975 and Godzilla’s return in 1984, which also was preceeded by the Godzilla 1983 Revival movie event. Godzilla toys released in Japan from 1975–79 racked in $4.5 million.¹ According to Steve Ryfle’s Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star, the Associated Press reported that “Godzilla would ‘make a comeback as the hero of a nuclear power plant accident.’” However, during those nine years, despite the event’s success and revenue, Toho and producer Tomoyuki Tanaka were struggling to come up with a new Godzilla project fitting for Godzilla’s 25th anniversary.²

Godzilla’s 25th anniversary was celebrated with the publication of a series of Godzilla children books by Kodansha (講談社) that included the Godzilla Movie Collection Book (ゴジラ大全集 テレビマガジンデラックス コレクションブック 2) and Godzilla Movie Masterpiece Album No.1 anniversary book (ゴジラ 映画名作アルバム No.1) (see above). They also released: Monster Godzilla Encyclopedia (怪獣ゴジラ大図鑑, no 9, April 1979), Godzilla Large Monster Secret Picture Book (ゴジラ大怪獣ひみつ図鑑, no 12, September), Let’s Play with the Monster Godzilla (怪獣ゴジラとあそぼう, no 17, April), Godzilla’s Dinosaur Book (ゴジラのきょうりゅうずかん, no 1, September), Large Monster Godzilla (だいかいじゅうゴジラ, no 27, April), Godzilla Great Monster Encyclopedia (ゴジラ大怪獣事典, February), Godzilla Large Monster Kodansha Pocket Guard (ゴジラ大怪獣 講談社のポケットガード no 1, September).

The same celebratory event was held in Osaka, Japan, from August 18 through 31. Japanese fans and moviegoers were excited and packed the event. Check out the tweets from Japanese fans who recall this great event.

ゴジラふりかけ @shFMOZXndn7h6yo: ｢魅力的な84ゴジラムーブメントのその火付がこのイベント、、、 ●1979/08/02 ゴジラ映画大全集 | 記念すべきゴジラ生誕25周年イベント。有楽町日劇にて8/24まで公開。初日の動員は3962名。3Fまで立ち見になる超満員。スゲー！！当時の写真を拝みたい。｣ “This event sparked the fascinating 84 Godzilla movement. ● 1979/08/02 Godzilla Movie Complete Works. A memorable 25th anniversary event for Godzilla. Released at Yurakucho Nichigeki until 8/24. 3962 people were mobilized on the first day. Super crowded with people standing up to the 3rd floor. Amazing!! I would love to see a photo from that time.

GR-7 @ggrasperZX: ｢若い方にはピンとこないでしょうが、PCもネットもなく、自分以外に怪獣特撮を好きな人がいるなんて知る由もなかった | 時代、同好の仲間がいたというだけでも感激し、毎日通うのが幸せだったのが「日劇ゴジラ映画大全集」| なので自分にとって日劇は怪獣特撮ファン活動の聖地でもあるのです(^^;」”Younger people probably don’t get it, but there is no PC or internet, At a time when I had no way of knowing that there were people who liked monster special effects other than myself, I was deeply moved by the fact that I had friends who liked the same thing, and I was happy to go to “Nichigeki Godzilla Movie Complete Works” every day. So for me, Nichigeki is also a sacred place for monster special effects fan activities (^^;”

浅井和康 @kazz_asai: ｢今夜、旧友たちとの酒宴で話頭に上った「ゴジラ映画大全集」。
多くの同好の士と、現在も続く交誼を結ぶきっかけとなったイベント。
1979年のあの夏を懐かしく思い出しました。」”Tonight, at a banquet with old friends, “Godzilla Movie Compilation” was talked about. An event that led to the formation of friendships that continue to this day with many like-minded people. I remember that summer of 1979 fondly.

佐藤利明（娯楽映画研究家）@toshiakis:『40年前の8月2日、16歳になる夏に、東京・有楽町日劇で「ゴジラ映画大全集」がスタートしました。前日から徹夜で日劇前に並び、様々な出会いがあり、今でも交流している方々もあり、TwitterやFacebookで再会した方もいます。僕らの原点というか、ここから「特撮を語る」人生が始まったのは間違いない。」”By 40 years ago, on August 2nd, in the summer when I turned 16, the “Godzilla Movie Complete Works” started at Yurakucho Nichigeki in Tokyo. From the day before the performance, we stayed up all night lining up in front of the theater, and we had various encounters, some of whom we still keep in touch with today, and some of whom we met again on Twitter and Facebook. There is no doubt that our starting point, or rather, the life of “talking about special effects” started from here.”

Reprint of Godzilla Movie Complete Works poster from the Godzilla All Movies DVD Collector’s Box Vol 43.

I was surprised to find I had amassed a sizable 1979 Godzilla collection along with the Godzilla DVD Collector’s Box Vol. 42 containing reprints of the event poster and Chikashi (Japanese for flyer). Arriving in the mail soon will be an original flyer and poster. A year before the amazing Popy Jumbo Godzilla was released. Here in the U.S., Mattel released the Shogun Godzilla and Godzilla’s Gang. What a great time to be a Godzilla fan and collector. Anniversary movie events mark Godzilla’s history and our memories in Japan and abroad. Today, we have Godzilla marathons on television, but there’s nothing like seeing Godzilla in the theater. And a twenty-day event is a dream.