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Directors Announced For New Japanese Godzilla Movie

Toho have released a new teaser image for their new ‘Godzilla’ movie. and have revealed the directors signed on for the project.

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The Japanese studio was the birthplace of the iconic monster movie series, responsible for 28 ‘Godzilla’ movies to date beginning with 1954′s ‘Gojira’ and ending with 2004′s ‘Godzilla: Final Wars.’ Spurred on by the success of Warner Bros recent ‘Godzilla,’ it was announced in December that Toho planned to revive the dormant Japanese series.

With a sequel to the Gareth Edwards movie scheduled for 2018, this presents monster movie fans with not-unappealing prospect of two rival ‘Godzilla’ franchises running back to back on opposite sides of the Pacific.

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Now, Variety report that Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi - who previously collaborated on a hugely impressive daikaiju short film entitled ‘Giant God Warrior Appears In Tokyo’ - have signed on to co-direct the 2016 ‘Godzilla.’

An official statement from Toho explains, ““Ever since Hollywood announced that ‘Godzilla’ was to be resurrected, the expectation for another Japanese Godzilla grew. And if we were to newly produce, we looked into Japanese creators who were the most knowledgeable and who had the most passion for Godzilla.”

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Anno and Higuchi were hired because “their drive to take on such new challenges was exactly what we all had been inspired by.”

In a separate interview translated to English by Anime News Network, Higuchi - whose first film industry job was on ‘Godzilla 1984′ - enthusiastically declares, “Finally, the time has come… playtime is over… next year, I will deliver the greatest and worst nightmare to everyone.”

This, combined with the rather ominous black-and-white footprint image released as a teaser poster, would suggest that this new Toho Godzilla aims to play things a bit straighter and darker than has alway been the norm for the series - again, perhaps to contend with the comparatively grounded take of the recent American version.

Higuchi’s first job in the film industry was working on the special effects for Toho’s ‘Godzilla 1985.’ Subsquently he directed the FX on the acclaimed 1990s ‘Gamera’ trilogy, and has also directed the upcoming live action ‘Attack On Titan.’

Anno, meanwhile, has worked extensively in anime, notably the ‘Evangelion’ series.

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Picture Credit: Toho