An animated feature length film in the works titled "Godzilla" has been announced by Japan's movie giant Toho. The movie has been planned to be released next year.
While the movie is produced by Toho, the Japanese animation studio Polygon Pictures will be in charge of animating the film, according to Variety. The "Godzilla" animated film will be directed by the "Detective Conan series" director Kobun Shizuno and co-directed by "Knights of Sidonia" director Hiroyuki Seshita. Joining in the filming crew for story writing and screenplay is also Japanese writer Gen Urobuchi, known for making visual novels, light novels, and anime, such as the critically acclaimed "Psycho-Pass."
Toho already has had previous collaborations in producing an animated televsion series based on "Godzilla," but this is actually the first animated feature length film in the 62 years of its history. Director Shizuno hopes that this "big-scale animation entertainment" will be something for both fans and those unfamiliar with the franchise to truly enjoy.
AV Club also added that a teaser image was released, which depicts three people in astronaut-like suits stadning beside a huge ship overlooking a valley and a rich dense forest with the title "Godzilla" labeled overhead. This may imply that the movie may have a lot of sci-fi, futuristic elements, but, other than that, no other details on that have been revealed yet.
There were also other animated titles produced by the US based on the popular gigantic monster. Hanna-Barbera Productions had one produced for NBC Network in the 70's, while another one was produced by Sony Pictures Television, entitled "Godzilla: The Series," which was supposed to be a sequel to the 1998 film.
Toho recently released the "Shin Gojira" (also known as "Godzilla Resurgence" internationally), the 31st film the in whole franchise, earlier in July and has grossed 4.3 billion yen (42.5 million USD) since it's release. The film mostly received positive reviews, with some calling it a "world class" Godzilla film.
The film is scheduled to be released in Japan in 2017.
