Twenty-five years ago, Roland Emmerich tried his hand at a monster movie. That movie was Godzilla, Hollywood’s first attempt to reboot the iconic, city-stomping monster for a Western audience. The 1998 film had a lot of interesting ideas in its head; unfortunately, very few of them worked. Emmerich’s film tries hard to remix the origins of its eponymous kaiju: instead of a prehistoric entity awoken by nuclear testing, Godzilla is essentially a mutated iguana. When he winds up stomping through the streets of Manhattan, it falls to a bumbling scientist (Matthew Broderick), his reluctant French companion (Jean Reno), and the less-than-helpful U.S. military to stop him.
Godzilla ‘98 is every bit a product of its time. It’s a film that cribbed as much from Jurassic Park as it did from Emmerich’s own success with Independence Day — and barely recouped its efforts at the box office. But time has been kind, in a way, to the film. Hollywood has since perfected its monster movie formula, and is hard at work churning out a MonsterVerse with a more familiar kaiju at its center. It’s the stuff that cinematic universes are made of, but those yearning for simpler times can still cite Emmerich’s Godzilla as a serviceable, turn-your-brain-off adventure.
And very soon, they can own the film on 4K and Blu-ray.
Godzilla is the latest film to get a big upgrade for its 25th anniversary. While it was recently upgraded to 4K in 2019, Sony Pictures will reissue the film in Steelbook form this fall. The two-disc set includes the remaster on 4K and Blu-ray, and contains a digital copy code.
The rerelease comes with a handful of special features, including visual effects commentary from the team that created Emmerich’s Godzilla, a making-of documentary, and a behind the scenes featurette. Check out the full synopsis below:
Following French atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific, an unknown creature is spotted passing through the Panama Canal. Scientist Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) is called in to investigate the matter, and he quickly arrives at the conclusion that a giant, irradiated lizard has been created by the explosions. Godzilla then makes its way north, landing in Manhattan to begin wreaking havoc in the big city. Even with the combined forces of the U.S. military to fight the monster, will it be enough to save the people of New York?
