Last week, Japanese magazine site, Nikkei Style, interviewed TOHO's Chief Godzilla Officer, Keiji Ota, over future plans for the Godzilla franchise. Back in 2014, the Godzilla Strategy Council was launched to help decide what ideas to take the Godzilla franchise. Ever since Shin Gojira/Shin Godzilla was released, many fans were thinking that there could be a sequel in the works based on the movie's ending with the Godzilla humanoids growing out of his tail. Now, that does not seem to be the case. It looks like that plans are looking towards a different direction to something like the Marvel comic book movies where you have a series of spin-off movies and then the main movie events. Thanks to the Facebook page, Gormaru Island, for the translation this is what Keiji Ota had to say,
"...after 2021, we're thinking of a potential strategy that publishes Godzilla movies uninterrupted at a rate of every 2 years, although there is a preference for a yearly pace as well...The future of the series and its forwarding developments are very conscious of the method of 'shared universe'. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, etc. could all share a single world view much like a Marvel movie where Ironman and The Hulk can crossover with each other... Shin Godzilla was a huge hit, but instead of thinking of doing the obvious idea of making a 'Shin Godzilla 2', instead think about a world that can be used for a long time, I'd rather make a World of Godzilla."
Currently, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Studios is already doing something similar with the "Monsterverse" series. We had Godzilla back in 2014, Kong: Skull Island last year, and then we have Godzilla: King Of The Monsters next year and concluding with Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020. As it looks TOHO wants to take that same idea and go even further with it. From a commercial stand-point, this strategy can work very well if TOHO play their cards right. They already have a huge roster of monsters that are well established and spin-off movies of the franchise can make a lot of money. Plus, they already did something like this before with the "Showa" era back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. On the other hand, this can flop just as hard as Universal's "Dark Universe" after Dracula Untold and The Mummy bombed tremendously. The reason why Marvel's cinematic universe has been so successful is because there is already a tremendous amount of source material from the comic books that are easily accessible for references and ideas. The only source material that TOHO has to base anything on are their previous movies and the "Monsterverse" series. The reason why Legendary's "Monsterverse" series is able to stand on its own is because the series is not a very big series. It's very small, but it is also easy to manage. What TOHO is going to take on is something much larger than the "Monsterverse" series. Will it be successful or will it flop, I don't know. Only time will tell, but I hope that it does well.
Now you are probably thinking that this is confirmation that a Shin Godzilla 2 is canceled. Well, I would not get my hopes up too much on that. Just because TOHO decided to do an expanded cinematic universe does not entirely mean there won't be a Shin Godzilla 2. We only have tiny bits of info on this project. For all we know this cinematic universe could take place in the same universe as Shin Godzilla. So until more info arises Shin Godzilla 2 can still be a possibility it's just not what TOHO is concentrating on at the moment.
What are your thoughts? Do you like the idea of another Godzilla cinematic universe or would you have preferred a sequel to Shin Godzilla? Leave a comment in the comment section what your thoughts are, share with your friends, and make sure to bookmark or subscribe to stay up-to-date on more news, reviews, and discussions.