There are few movie monsters as famous as Godzilla. The giant, fire-breathing radioactive reptile first appeared on screens in the 1954 Japanese classic Gojira, a surprisingly dark movie that was as much an allegory for the wartime atomic bombing of Japan as it was a monster movie. The huge popularity of that film spawned dozens of sequels and spin-offs over the next few decades. These films introduced a whole host of other big monsters, and were subsequently dubbed and exported to the US with considerable success.There have also been a number of attempts to produce a version of Godzilla in Hollywood. In 1978, legendary American animation studio Hanna-Barbera teamed up with Toho, who own the rights to the character, to create a short-lived cartoon series. In 1992, Columbia Pictures acquired the US rights, with the intention of creating a new trilogy. But the critical and commercial failure of the result--1998`s Godzilla, from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich--quickly ended those plans.But in 2014, Hollywood tried again and got it right. This version of Godzilla was an entertaining and popular take on the classic material, that featured some stunning set-pieces from director Gareth Edwards and an impressive cast that included Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, and Sally Hawkins. It made more than $529 million at the worldwide box office, and helped kickstart a new big monster cinematic universe, known as the MonsterVerse. Godzilla was quickly joined by last year`s equally successful Kong: Skull Island, and next May, Godzilla: King of the Monsters arrives. So ahead of that, here`s everything we know so far about Godzilla: King of the Monsters... When is the movie released?Godzilla: King of the Monsters hits US theaters on May 31, 2019. This is actually the third release date the movie has had--it was originally scheduled for June 2018, before being shifted to March, then to May. The only other movie currently scheduled for release on the same day is the ...
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