Godzilla vs. Megalon | |
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Japanese theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Jun Fukuda |
Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
Written by |
Takeshi Kimura Shinichi Sekizawa Jun Fukuda |
Starring |
Katsuhiko Sasaki Hiroyuki Kawase Yutaka Hayashi Robert Dunham Kotaro Tomita Ulf Ootsuki Gentaro Nakajima |
Music by | Riichiro Manabe |
Cinematography | Yuzuru Aizawa |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Toho |
Release date
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Running time
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81 minutes |
Language | Japanese |
Budget | $760,000 |
Godzilla vs. Megalon (ゴジラ対メガロ Gojira tai Megaro?) is a 1973 Japanese science-fiction kaiju film produced by Toho. Directed and co-written by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, the film starred Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, and American actor Robert Dunham. It is the thirteenth film in the Godzilla franchise. Heavily influenced by the tokusatsu superhero television shows of the time, the film includes a robotic superhero character known as Jet Jaguar.
The film was released theatrically in the United States in the summer of 1976 by Cinema Shares. Afterwards it became the only Godzilla film to receive a television premiere on a major American television network, as NBC aired it on prime time television in the summer of 1977, where it was hosted by actor John Belushi dressed in a Godzilla costume.
In the year 1973, the most recent underground nuclear test, set off near the Aleutians, sends shockwaves as far south as Monster Island, disturbing the monsters, causing Anguirus to fall into a fault opened up by the consequential earthquakes and Rodan to fly off, while Godzilla decides to stay put.
For years, Seatopia, an undersea civilization, has been heavily affected by this nuclear testing conducted by the surface nations of the world. Upset by these tests, the Seatopians plan to unleash their civilization's beetle-like god, Megalon, to destroy the surface world out of vengeance.