Toho Had to Approve the Pink Godzilla Design in GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE
When that first trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hit and fans were introduced to a new pink Godzilla, there was a bit of a backlash over the redesign. As a longtime fan of Godzilla, I personally wasn’t too thrilled about it. It’s not that I’m not a fan of pink — I’m a father of three girls, so pink has become a main color staple in my life — I’m just a purist, and I don’t think Godzilla looks good in pink.
Regardless of what the fans think, Legendary Entertainment had to get permission from Toho to change the color of the creature, and Toho gave them the permission.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Creature Designer Jared Krichevsky confirmed Legendary had to get Toho's approval for Godzilla's redesign on X and you can check out his post below. This confirmation dismisses the argument that Legendary is taking too many liberties with the character.
The film’s director Adam Winger previously offered an explanation as to why he went pink with Godzilla, saying: "Whenever I was talking to the visual artists, what I told them was, 'I want the color palette of this film to resemble the experience of what it was like to walk down a toy aisle in the 1980s when you had ThunderCats, G.I. Joe, and Transformers.' There was just this orgasmic feeling. So many colors and textures. That's what I wanted to bring to this movie. This new, heightened reality. I wanted to find out: can you take that over-the-top toy-aisle experience, but then find a way to ground that into a reality?"
The director also talked about this new version of Godzilla and said: "Very specifically in the last film, I wanted Godzilla to have a continuity, to look the way that he had in King of the Monsters and the 2014 Godzilla, but then I didn’t get a chance at doing my version of Godzilla. So now I wanted to do different things with the spines, and try different colours. I didn't want it to just be random; it's part of the story."
In the end, I think the whole thing comes down to merchandise for the film. You’ll see some of the toy packaging below, which is exploding with pink.
In the upcoming film, “The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.”
The film stars Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong), Brian Tyree Henry (Godzilla vs. Kong), Dan Stevens (Legion), Kaylee Hottle (Godzilla vs. Kong), Alex Ferns (The Batman) and Fala Chen (Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings).
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opens in theaters on April 12, 2024.