With the Godzilla franchise bigger than ever this year, and gearing up for an even more massive 2020 with Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong, this has prompted many fans to wonder what’s next for Toho’s major franchise. Toho had a major presence at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, and the studio has been open about where they want to take the franchise following Legendary’s run with it beyond 2020.
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Speaking with Inverse, Toho’s head of project management Akito Takahashi teased Toho’s future plans for the franchise including the end of Legendary’s MonsterVerse. There was even a slight tease that MechaGodzilla could be on the horizon too.
Takahashi mentioned how Toho’s approach to Godzilla’s Hollywood image was really focused around licensing and being sure the image was properly represented, “Toho has been licensing, sort of lending Godzilla to Hollywood, and one of the things they would do is make sure the image is right, the characters are aligned, making sure we’re happy with the Godzilla that’s been represented. And that has been doing wonderfully, so we’re very excited.”
When asked about what Kaiju Takahashi would like to see in the future, “I do believe that mechanism Godzilla has a huge impact and fanbase, and that was probably something that might be coming in the future. Personally, I love the Jaeger, so I personally hope we can see him in the movies. It’s a minority character, not many people know him.”
But in terms of what Kaiju are represented, Toho likes to give the reigns to the creator behind the film, “We like giving that control to the creator, whether they want to bring back an old character they have a very special connection too, or there might be some directors who want to create new monsters. Where Toho stands is, we say yes to both because they’re both exciting. We want to see the new characters come onto the big screen, but also the older characters be revived as well.”
Toho isn’t only looking toward the future of the films, but is looking toward expanding the amount of Godzilla merchandise in the United States. Fans have seen the start of this will pop-up shops, new figures, official social media accounts, and of course, this presence at San Diego Comic-Con. But this likely won’t be the end of this greater expansion of the franchise, especially if Toho plans to take over the Godzilla film production after Legendary’s MonsterVerse comes to an end in 2020.
via Inverse
