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Funimation Licenses TOHO's 2016 Shin Godzilla Film

FUNimation Entertainment announced at Comic Con International in San Diego on Thursday that it will release TOHO's Godzilla: Resurgence (Shin Godzilla) film. Funimation plans to release the film in theaters in late 2016.

The film will open in Japan on July 29, and will have IMAX, MX4D, and 4DX screenings.

The film is the 29th Godzilla film by TOHO. Evangelion director Hideaki Anno and live-action Attack on Titan film director Shinji Higuchi are collaborating on the film. Anno is serving as chief director and writer, while Higuchi is directing the new film and is also serving as visual effects director. Mahiro Maeda (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Animatrix, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, "Kyōshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru") worked on the image designs, and Takayuki Takeya (Kamen Rider Drive, live-action Attack on Titan) worked on the character designs based on the concepts by Maeda and Anno.

The film's main cast includes:

Hiroki Hasegawa (live-action Attack on Titan films' Shikishima, live-action Princess Jellyfish's Shū Koibuchi, pictured center in photographs above) plays a person linked to the government when Godzilla attacks modern Japan. Yutaka Takenouchi (Hoshi no Kinka, Calmi Cuori Appassionati, Nagareboshi, left) plays another person linked to the government, and Satomi Ishihara (live-action Attack on Titan's Hans/Hanji, Pokémon the Movie: Black - Victini and Reshiram's Karita, right) plays an American agent.

Executive producer Akihiro Yamauchi (Trick, Densha Otoko, Bakuman.) explained that the film's Japanese title, Shin Gojira or Shin Godzilla, signifies that it is not a "revival" or a "rebirth." While it can be translated as "New Godzilla," it can also mean "True Godzilla," "God Godzilla," and other connotations. Chief director Anno coined the title to incorporate various possible meanings.

According to a Sankei Sports' source close to the production, the story is mainly set in modern Japan, and America is also involved. At 118.5 meters (about 388.8 feet), the new Godzilla will be the tallest one yet, towering over the 108-meter-tall (355-foot-tall) incarnation in Gareth Edwards and Legendary Pictures' 2014 Hollywood film.

Higuchi promised that this will be the scariest Godzilla yet, quoting the horrors of the real world, like 9/11, the March 11 tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis having stripped the the world of its innocence. The film will use a hybrid of actors moving through miniatures (a staple of the early Godzilla films), computer graphics, and special effects.

Images © 2016 Toho Co., LTD.  All Rights Reserved.