Criterion to release Blu-ray set of the 15 Showa era Godzilla movies

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

More than twenty years after Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION became the first DVD release for Criterion, the home video distribution company has reached their 1000th DVD/Blu-ray release, and the Blu-ray set that will sport #1000 on its spine is going to be a major collector's item. In fact, this is such a big deal that it almost makes the number that will be on its side irrelevant.

Criterion has announced that they are assembling a Blu-ray collector's set of the fifteen films that make up the GODZILLA franchise's "Showa era"; that is, the GODZILLA films that were released from 1954 to 1975. The films in question are: 

GODZILLA 
GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN
KING KONG VS. GODZILLA 
MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA
GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER
INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER
EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP (a.k.a. GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER)
SON OF GODZILLA
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS
ALL MONSTERS ATTACK (a.k.a. GODZILLA'S REVENGE)
GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH
GODZILLA VS. GIGAN
GODZILLA VS. MEGALON
GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA

The Blu-ray box set will include: 

– High-definition digital transfer of Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956), the U.S.-release version of Godzilla Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962

– Audio commentaries from 2011 on Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters featuring film historian David Kalat

– International English-language dub tracks for Invasion of Astro-Monster, Son of Godzilla,Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla

– Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Ishiro Honda, conducted by director Yoshimitsu Banno in 1990

– Programs detailing the creation of Godzilla’s special effects and unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monster

– New interview with filmmaker Alex Cox about his admiration for the Showa-era Godzilla films

– New and archival interviews with cast and crew members, including actors Bin Furuya, Tsugutoshi Komada, Haruo Nakajima, and Akira Takarada; composer Akira Ifukube; and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai

– Interview with critic Tadao Sato from 2011

– Illustrated audio essay from 2011 about the real-life tragedy that inspired Godzilla

– New English subtitle translations

– Trailers

– A lavishly illustrated deluxe hardcover book featuring an essay by cinema historian Steve Ryfle, notes on the films by cinema historian Ed Godziszewski, and new illustrations by Arthur Adams, Sophie Campbell, Becky Cloonan, Jorge Coelho, Geof Darrow, Simon Gane, Robert Goodin, Benjamin Marra, Monarobot, Takashi Okazaki, Angela Rizza, Yuko Shimizu, Bill Sienkiewicz, Katsuya Terada, Ronald Wimberly, and Chris Wisnia

I'm a big fan of Godzilla, so I'm very glad to hear that the films of the Showa era – which is my favorite era of the series – are getting this kind of special release.

Criterion's GODZILLA Blu-ray collector's set will be out this fall.