Godzilla (1998)

TriStar bought the rights from Toho in 1992 and announced a trilogy. After a false start under Jan de Bont, in May 1996, just before Independence Day opened, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin took the job on their own terms. Devlin wanted Godzilla "as a fast-moving animal out of nature." Patrick Tatopoulos redesigned the creature as a lean, iguana-like runner, and when the pair unveiled it, Toho's executives sat in silence before asking them to come back tomorrow. They also dropped the atomic breath for a "power breath," until the news leaked, fans revolted, and late changes were made.

The campaign was the film's real achievement. Emmerich insisted the full creature stay hidden, and 300 companies signed on to show only pieces of it. A $600,000 teaser shot before principal photography, in which Godzilla's foot crushes a T. rex skeleton in a museum, ran ahead of Men in Black in the summer of 1997. Taco Bell put $20 million of media behind spots in which its chihuahua tried to trap the monster in a box. Everything carried the slogan "Size Does Matter." Sony expected a $100 million Memorial Day opening in a record 3,310 theaters; it got $44 million for the weekend and $55.7 million over the four-day holiday.

Critics were brutal. Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars, noting that Mayor Ebert and his aide Gene were the filmmakers' jab at him and Gene Siskel for panning Stargate and Independence Day. The Razzies gave it Worst Supporting Actress and Worst Remake or Sequel. In Japan, original suit actor Haruo Nakajima said "its face looks like an iguana and its body and limbs look like a frog," critic and fan Richard Pusateri coined GINO, for Godzilla In Name Only, and Toho revived its own series early with Godzilla 2000. In 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars, Toho renamed the American creature Zilla because, its producers said, the film "took the God out of Godzilla."

It still grossed $379 million worldwide, the third-biggest film of 1998, profitable and yet a disappointment. Sequel plans were scrapped, and an animated series ran on Fox Kids from 1998 to 2000 instead; TriStar let the rights lapse in May 2003. Devlin later said he had "screwed up," and Hank Azaria called it the "poster child" for Hollywood's budget-and-marketing excess. The alt-rock soundtrack was led by Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page's "Come with Me."