The Godzilla franchise spans up to 70 years, with its latest film (as of 2024), Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. The property is primarily owned by Toho Co. Ltd. The character was created by Japanese war veteran and filmmaker Ishiro Honda, and was given the name “Gojira” (translation for “ゴジラ”) – or what is now popularized as “Godzilla” in English. In the original 1954 film, Godzilla mainly served as a grim allegory for the abuse of atomic weapons and their effects on civilization in the modern age. His origin in this story and future films tends to vary, but it usually involves him being a prehistoric reptilian either having become awakened or mutated by nuclear bomb testing.
After the success of the third film (King Kong VS Godzilla), the franchise quickly became sillier as it started gearing more towards children throughout the 60's and 70's. This era lasting up to 1975 was titled the Showa series (after the emperor of Japan at the time). To the Western general public especially, the Showa era was notable for being the most influential form of exposure to the franchise – and their lighthearted nature made it a common laughing stock target amongst a sea of other popular sci-fi blockbusters.
In the 80’s, Godzilla was brought back in a new era, the Heisei series, along with a fresh and serious tone. To keep this iteration of him up-to-date, he stopped being portrayed as a child-friendly superhero and more of a neutral anti-hero who fights other monsters, not out of human-driven reasons but more animalistic. After the Heisei era ended in 1995, 1998 introduced audiences to the first official American Godzilla film, directed by Roland Emmerich. When it became a box office bomb, TriStar Pictures lost the rights to the property before a sequel could be planned. Toho then quickly brought back Godzilla again in the early-2000s (officially titled the Millennium series), portraying him marginally similar to how he was in the 80’s and 90’s. While the new era featured many improvements in storytelling and VFX, it had to close prematurely in late-2004 largely due to declining ticket sales. We wouldn’t see another Godzilla film until a decade later.

Godzilla had finally became mainstream in America after the success of the 2014 film by Legendary Pictures, where he is revitalized as a godlike force of nature, with some heroic traits stemming as far back as the Showa movies. 5 years later, a sequel came out and introduced the United States to other old legacy monsters such as Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Godzilla VS Kong revived cinema in 2021 in which director Adam Wingard proposed a sequel after its success.
Toho also got back to creating Godzilla films as well, this time bringing the character back to his antagonistic roots while also trying out fresh and experimental designs and abilities. The 2016 film Shin Gojira is a modernized homage to the 1954 incarnation, focusing on the political issues of a post-nuclear world. 2017-18 featured a fully animated trilogy, with Godzilla depicted as a plant-based organism that managed to drive the human race off of Earth. The art style for these films continued to be used for the 2021 Netflix series, Godzilla Singular Point, where the monsters were depicted smaller and naturalistic.
Another Godzilla film was announced in mid-2023, titled Godzilla Minus One – released on November in Japan and later December in America. The movie quickly became a massive success worldwide, earning over 100 million USD against a $10-12-million budget. This revelation mattered as Godzilla is now in a place where his popularity has reached an all-time high, where it is no longer a small niche but rather universally accepted as an icon that continues to remain relevant within each generation onwards. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire embraces the sillier-toned movies, and is confirmed to be the first film in the series overall to feature “a whole hour of monster action" Two more films have been recently announced a sequel to Minus One in 2026, and the next MonsterVerse installment, Godzilla X Kong: Supernova, slated to release in 2027.

GOJIRA (1954)

GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1955)

KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962)

MOTHRA VS GODZILLA (1964)

GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964)

INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER (1965)

EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP (1966)

SON OF GODZILLA (1967)

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968)

ALL MONSTERS ATTACK (1969)

GODZILLA VS HEDORAH (1971)

GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972)

GODZILLA VS MEGALON (1973)

GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (1974)

TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975)

THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984)

GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE (1989)

GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991)

GODZILLA VS MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH (1992)

GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA 2 (1993)

GODZILLA VS SPACEGODZILLA (1994)

GODZILLA VS DESTOROYAH (1995)

GODZILLA (1998)

GODZILLA 2000: MILLENNIUM (1999)

GODZILLA VS MEGAGUIRUS (2000)

GODZILLA, MOTHRA & KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001)

GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002)

GODZILLA: TOYKO SOS (2003)

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004)

GODZILLA (2014)

SHIN GOJIRA (2016)

GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS (2017)

GODZILLA 2: CITY ON THE EDGE OF BATTLE (2018)

GODZILLA 3: THE PLANET EATER (2018)

GODZILLA 2: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019)

GODZILLA VS KONG (2021)

GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023)

GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE (2024)

GODZILLA MINUS ZERO (2026)

GODZILLA X KONG: SUPERNOVA (2027)

1990s: "Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley" (1992) · Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994)

2010s: Godzilla: The Real 4-D (2017) · Dream Challenge: Godzilla Appears in Sukagawa (2019) · "The Faceless Star" (2019) · Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D (2019)

2020s: Godzilla Interception Operation Awaji (2020) · Godzilla Appears at Godzilla Fest (2020) · Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021) · "The Impact of a Blue Day" (2021) · Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021) · Godzilla vs. the Tigers (2022) · Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2022) · Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks (2022) · "GO YOUR WAY" (2023) · Godzilla vs. Megalon (2023) · Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023) · A New Roar in Southeast Asia (2025) · Godzilla the Ride: The Great Clash (2025)

1980s: Godzilla (1983) · Godzilla and the Martians (1984) · Godzilla vs. 3 Major Monsters (1984) · Fierce Dragon Godzilla: Metropolis Destruction (1985) · Gojira-Kun (1985) · The Movie Monster Game (1986) · Monster's Fair (1986) · Godzilla (1988) · Godzilla, Monster of Monsters (1989)

1990s: Gojira-kun: Kaijū Daikōshin (1990) · Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters (1991) · Battle Soccer: Champion of the Field (1992) · Godzilla (1993) · Super Godzilla (1993) · Godzilla (1993) ·
King of the Monsters, Godzilla (1993) · Godzilla: Battle Legends (1993) · Godzilla Wars Jr. (1994) · Godzilla: Monster War (1994) · Godzilla: The Atomar Nightmare (1995) · Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island (1995) · Godzilla: Archipelago Shock (1995) · Godzilla: Kaijuu no Daishingeki (1995) · Godzilla Movie Studio Tour (1998) · Godzilla Online (1998) · Godzilla - The Aftermath (1998) · G-Patrol VR Combat Simulator (1998) · Godzilla (1998) · Godzilla: Virtual Shakin' (1998) · Godzilla (1998) · Godzilla Trading Battle (1998) · Godzilla Generations (1998) · Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact (1999) · Godzilla: The Series (1999)

2000s: Godzilla: The Series - Monster Wars (2000) · Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (2002) · Godzilla: Domination! (2002) · Godzilla: Save the Earth (2004) · CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle (2006) · Godzilla: Pachislot Wars (2007) · Godzilla: Unleashed (2007) · Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash (2008) · Godzilla: Monster Mayhem (2009)

2010s: CR Godzilla: Descent of the Destruction God (2010) · Godzilla on Monster Island (2011) · Godzilla Encounter(2014) · Godzilla: Crisis Defense (2014) · Godzilla: Strike Zone (2014) · Godzilla Smash3 (2014) · Godzilla (2014) · Godzilla: Kaiju Collection (2015) · Shin Godzilla (2016) · City Shrouded in Shadow (2017) · Godzilla Defense Force (2019)

2020s: Godzilla Battle Line (2021) · Godzilla Destruction (2021) · Run Godzilla (2021) · GigaBash (2022) · Godzilla Voxel Wars (2023)

Film & TV Novelizations: Monster Godzilla (1954) · Godzilla & Godzilla Raids Again (1955) · Godzilla (1984) · The Return of Godzilla (1984) · Godzilla VS Biollante (1989) · Novel: Godzilla VS King Ghidorah (1991) · Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) · GODZILLA (1998) · Godzilla (2014) · GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse (2017) · GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters (2017) · GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla (2018) · GODZILLA: The Planet Eater (2018) · Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) · Godzilla VS Kong (2021) · Godzilla Singular Point (2022) · Novel Version: Godzilla Minus One (2023) · Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024)

IDW Comics: Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters (2011) · Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths (2011) · Godzilla: Legends (2011) · Godzilla (2012) · Godzilla: The Half-Century War (2012) · Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth (2013) · Godzilla: Cataclysm (2014) · Godzilla in Hell (2015) · Godzilla: Oblivion (2016) · Godzilla: Rage Across Time (2016) · Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors (2021) · Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King! (2022) · Godzilla VS The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (2022) · Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons (2023) · Godzilla: War For Humanity (2023) · Godzilla VS The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II (2024) · Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons II - Sons of Giants (2024) · Godzilla: Skate or Die (2024)

Other: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1996) · Godzilla Returns (1996) · Godzilla 2000 (1997) · Godzilla Invades America (1997) · Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island (1998) · Godzilla VS the Space Monster (1998) · Godzilla at World's End (1998) · Godzilla VS the Robot Monsters (1998) · The Official Godzilla Compendium (1998)

• Godzilla’s size has fluctuated throughout the years. In the Showa era, he was consistently 50 meters (164 feet) tall. The Heisei version started at 80m (262ft), then boosted up to 100m (328ft). The 1998 version was 70m (230 ft). In the Millennium series, he changes between 55m (182ft) to 60m (196ft), then 100m again in Final Wars (2004). The largest live-action version of the character currently stands at 120m (393ft) tall. The tallest incarnation overall exists in the anime trilogy, standing at 318m (~1043ft).


• While Godzilla’s exact age remains undetermined, it is stated in the MonsterVerse that he likely originated from the Permian period of Earth’s geological history.


• Godzilla’s glow and atomic heat ray are usually blue, as a reference to Cherenkov radiation. There are however plenty of instances where the color changes. In the original ‘54 film, it was white and had a smoky texture. In the Heisei and Millennium eras (and most American media), his glow sometimes changed to red or orange due to a power-up. There was also a TV show (Godzilla: The Series) that followed up after the ‘98 film, where his ray glowed green. In Shin Gojira, it is laser-like and purple. In GxK: The New Empire, his glow is now hot pink – which is also coincidentally the most extreme color on the radiation spectrum.

• Godzilla’s Japanese name, Gojira, derives from the terms for “gorilla” (gorira) and “whale” (kujira). “Gorilla” refers to his strength, and “whale” reflects his aquatic lifestyle.
• The original stuntman for Godzilla was Haruo Nakajima, who was also known as the most famous Japanese actor in the world. He passed away on August 2017, at 88 years old.
• Godzilla’s design was inspired by an outdated reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus rex. The upright posture was maintained as a means to lessen the risk of suit actors developing back injuries during filming.

• There are a total of 44 motion-picture entries in the franchise (as of 2027), with 40 films and 4 television shows.
• The MonsterVerse series as of April 2024 has hit a grand total of over $2 billion at the global box office.
• Both Minus One and GxK were created to commemorate the 70th anniversary.
• The highest box office total the series has ever reached was achieved by the 2014 Godzilla film, earning up to roughly $524 million worldwide. Godzilla Raids Again (1955) meanwhile scored the lowest results, hitting a mere estimate of 1 million USD.