When Godzilla: King of the Monsters arrived in theaters earlier this summer, director Mike Doughtery brought other famous creatures along for the ride, like Mothra and King Ghidorah. But he originally planned to bring other classic Toho monsters in as well, in an effort to make it even more old-school. So why didn’t he? In an interview with Rue Morgue, Dougherty explained that it ultimately came down to the cost of getting the rights to these characters.
“Originally, I hoped to use other monsters from the Tohoverse, like Anguirus, Gigan, or Biollante, but every single Toho monster comes with a price tag — something we didn’t have the budget for,” he said. “So instead of moping about it, I decided to embrace the opportunity and add new titans to the gallery.”
This did allow Dougherty to stretch his creative muscles for the film. He introduced a giant woolly mammoth by the name of Behemoth, as well as an armored giant named Scylla. And fans that saw the original film may have recognized the return of a MUTO character, albeit a smaller one that couldn’t challenge the king.
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Godzilla will return in Godzilla vs. Kong, set to release on March 13, 2020. But that chapter will likely focus on those two titans, rather than other characters within the Tohoverse. Whether we’ll see their introduction in a King of the Monsters sequel has yet to be determined. It did do pretty well at the box office, making $385 million worldwide. But Warner Bros. has yet to greenlight any more Godzilla films aside from next year’s endeavor. We’ll see what comes following that.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is available now on Digital HD, and releases on home video format on August 31. What Toho creatures would you like to have seen in the film? Let us know in the comments below!
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