Trivia / Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!

• Executive Meddling: Originally it was going to be Baragon, Varan and Anguirus going against Godzilla, but the latter two were swapped out for more popular monsters (Mothra and King Ghidorah, though they were nerfed) because Toho did not believe Anguirus and Varan were marketable enough. Baragon however, was kept around due to his huge fanbase in Japan (in contrast, while Anguirus is a fan favorite amongst Western audiences, his popularity is only so-so in Japan).
• The Other Darrin: Mizuho Yoshida replaces Tsutomu Kitagawa as the suitman for Godzilla this time around.
• Production Posse: Director Shusuke Kaneko, special effects director Shinji Higuchi, and composer Kow Otani have previously worked on the Gamera Heisei trilogy.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Godzilla being the embodiment of World War II causalities came from the director's reaction to Japanese nationalist groups coming to power and downplaying Imperial Japan's actions in the Pacific.
• Refitted for Sequel: Godzilla coming back to life as an undead monster was based on an idea from 1995 where the original Godzilla from 1954 would return as a vengeful ghost out for blood and fight his successor and Godzilla Junior. The title would have been Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla, but Toho didn't want another movie of Godzilla fighting another antagonist Godzilla, so it eventually became Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Instead of being a ghost, the Godzilla in this film is a zombie.
• Technology Marches On: The entire nonsensical "rocks and stones are like the CDs of the dead" exchange.
• What Could Have Been: In addition to the above executive meddlings, Godzilla was originally going to walk with his tail more parallel to the ground, but it was a strain on the actor's back, so his posture returned to normal.
  • Before settling on the initial idea, Kaneko optioned to have Godzilla fight Kamacuras. He was very interested in using advanced special effects techniques, including lots of CGI, to breath new life into the mantis design. It was scrapped due to Godzilla vs. Megaguirus being in production, and Kaneko wanting to do something more original rather than creating a film with similar opponents.
  • The movie was originally supposed to have been released in March 2002, but for unknown reasons, this idea was dropped, and instead, it got a December 2001 release date.
    • Next, Kaneko fleshed out a story in which Godzilla does battle with an astronaut turned space alien dubbed "M" (essentially a remake of the Ultraman episode "My Home is Earth"). A couple of drafts for the idea were worked on, the last one created made full use of the Millennium concept with an alternate reality where Japan had become the "Republic of Japan" with a large military at its disposal rather than a Self Defense Force. In the end however, Kaneko dropped the story because it ended up being too depressing for the kind of movie he wanted to make.
  • TriStar was VERY close to giving the film a new dub job and a limited nationwide theatrical run like Godzilla 2000, so far as coming up with a new English title, Godzilla Must Be Killed! (or abbreviated as GMBK, for "Godzilla, Mothra, Baragon, King Ghidorah"), but for whatever reason, the plans fell through.
    • Reportedly, at a screening of the film, TriStar execs angrily walked out, shouting "They're still using guys in rubber suits!" So that definitely didn't help its chances.
  • Godzilla was originally going to fight smaller, weaker monsters who were sent as guardians to save Japan from his wrath and writer Shusuke Kaneko first selected Anguirus, Varan and Baragon. Toho disapproved of using Anguirus and Varan because those two haven't brought on big numbers at the box office in the past (even though Anguirus never got his own movie) and for a real stupid reason, not luminescent enough. The costume designer for the movie was so upset that Toho declined to let Varan appear (as Varan was his favorite monster) that he put some of Varan's skin onto King Ghidorah.
  • In an interesting case, Godzilla's suit in this movie is an example of What Could Have Been- initially, the suit designer intended to have the King of Monsters adopt a more realistically-saurian pose, horizontal with his head level with his tail. Although ultimately this idea was scrapped for practicality reasons (it's hard enough holding up a 400-lbs suit as it is, let alone bent in half at the waist,) remnants of the design can still be seen in the way Godzilla's head rotates, and in his infamous pot belly.