Monsters Director to Helm Godzilla
Posted 01.05.11 by Ryan
Gareth Edwards will follow up his directorial debut of Monsters by directing... another monster. THR reports that Legendary Pictures has hired the British director to develop and direct an adaptation of Godzilla. Legendary purchased the Godzilla rights from the Japanese Toho Co. last year, promising a "modern epic" that "we, as fans, would like to see." Hiring Edwards could be the right step in that direction.
Edwards' Monsters, which followed two companions as they traveled through a quarantined area of Mexico filled with alien creatures, impressed audiences and movie studios alike with its realistic depiction of creatures created on a budget of $15,000 dollars. Legendary's next move is to hire a screenwriter for Edwards to work with. Dave Callaham (The Expendables) wrote the initial draft.
Warner Bros. will distribute the movie, which currently has no release date. Toho produced the first Godzilla in 1954, the popularity of which helped produce a long line of sequels, ending with the poorly received Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004. American studios have attempted to duplicate that success once before, with 1998's Godzilla bombing at the box office.