The Big Picture
- Godzilla‘s 4K steelbook is set to release on October 24, 2023, featuring the iconic monster wreaking havoc on New York City.
- Despite the criticisms it received, the 1998 version of Godzilla has a unique charm and offers impressive spectacle and visuals, especially for its time.
- While the current American franchise and the Japanese Toho series are considered better, there is something oddly fun about the 1998 Godzilla that still captivates audiences 25 years later.
While the MonsterVerse is alive and roaring today with films like Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla Vs. Kong, Legendary’s successful franchise wasn’t the first attempt at bringing the cinematic monster to America. That honor goes to 1998’s Godzilla directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Matthew Broderick. Now, in honor of the film’s 25th anniversary this year, Godzilla is getting a new monstrous 4K steelbook.
The 4K/Blu-ray combo pack steelbook has Godzilla front and center in the middle of New York City. That’s what made this version so intriguing at the time as we’d never seen a beast like Godzilla wreak havoc on American soil. It was the perfect time too since Emmerich made the 90s the decade of the disaster movie with films like Independence Day. This isn’t the first time Godzilla is coming to 4K, but this release comes with a handful of bonus features like a visual effects commentary, “All-Time Best Godzilla Fight Scenes”, and “Behind-The-Scenes of Godzilla with Charles Caiman”.
Godzilla King of the Monsters
While Godzilla 1998 has never been that well received thanks to some bizarre creative decisions and hilariously bad lines like “that’s a lot of fish”, the film in the modern context of the series has a unique charm to it. Emmerich’s version of Godzilla was more of a dinosaur-like creature with much longer legs then we were used to seeing from the character. That makes this Godzilla a towering presence and, if you were a kid watching this film in the early 2000s, it effectively gave you nightmares. Also, given that this was an Emmerich film in the director’s prime, the spectacle of this monster movie is still impressive including most of the effects work. Seeing New York get destroyed never gets old and this film does offer some unique ideas that visually mirror other hit movies at times like Jurassic Park. This includes Godzilla being female and having babies. The current American franchise is better in almost every way and the Japanese Toho series is going strong, but there’s something oddly fun about the 1998 version that keeps us coming back to it 25 years later.
When Does ‘Godzilla’s Steelbook Release?
Godzilla’s 4K steelbook is stomping onto store shelves October 24, 2023. Check out the cover below:
