WonderCon is in its last day in Anaheim, California and yesterday panelists got a look at a clip from Godzilla , which reportedly earned thunderous applause and foot stomping both during and after it was revealed by director Gareth Edwards.
Deadline reports that the panel was rather low key until Godzilla showed up. “I thought it was going to be the easiest thing in the world — designing Godzilla, but everyone has an opinion,” said Edwards. “But designing Godzilla was the hardest thing in the world, because everyone has an opinion.”
The clip was of a tsunami flooding a tropical city, something which has been shown in previous Godzilla trailers . It also apparently showed Godzilla battling a three-legged moth monster at an airport. Could it be Mothra?
Earlier this year, io9 caught a hidden clue with an appearance of the Mothra twins (Shobijin) in a building, who have appeared with Mothra in previous movies with Godzilla. At the time, it was unclear whether this was just a shout-out, but with the report of a moth monster battling Godzilla, that seems to put a whole lot more weight into Godzilla not being the only monster to make it to the big screen this May.
In addition to the WonderCon Godzilla footage, which is not available online, a new TV spot has been released showing our first really clear look at the beast, along with the signature Godzilla roar. Previous views of the monster had teased his neck, feet, back scales, and a cloudy vision of his face.
Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla will be the second time that an American studio has exclusively attempted to remake the film, which was originally made by Toho Studios. Toho Studios made 28 films featuring the monster. In 1998, Roland Emmerich released a Godzilla film starring Matthew Broderick and Hank Azaria.
Edwards’ version is reportedly much more faithful to the original Toho Godzilla films, recounting the origins the “king of monsters” had in nuclear experiments. Godzilla was originally used in film as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. The movie stars Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe, and Elizabeth Olson and was shot in Vancouver, Canada and Honolulu, Hawaii.
The film appears to have a family angle, with Cranston playing the role of Joseph Brody, a nuclear physicist working with Sandra Brody, played by Binoche. Their son, Ford Brody is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson with Olsen starring as his wife.
Godzilla will hit theaters on May 16, 2014. Will you be heading out to see the latest destruction of the most famous of movie monsters?