Toho has only produced a handful of non-Godzilla kaiju movies since the Heisei era began – Yamato Takeru (1994), the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy (1996-98), the Attack on Titan two-parter (2015) – and none of them went over particularly well. After Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) underperformed, the company also became cautious about who it paired Godzilla with; the popular trio of Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla returned over and over. Their fixation on “mon-stars” has survived the long post-Final Wars hiatus. Godzilla: Planet Eater, the conclusion of the Godzilla anime trilogy, seems like it’ll feature all three. Ota even cited Mothra as a monster an entire year of merchandise and a film could be centered around.
Hopefully, Toho will realize that story can matter just as much as name recognition. Marvel, the example they’re explicitly looking towards, has turned C- and D-list heroes into household names. Audience fatigue is also worth considering, especially since Mothra and Ghidorah will show up in Legendary’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
I brainstormed a bunch of movie concepts for Toho’s next Godzilla ‘verse, including – hold your applause – a Bagan vehicle.