Godzilla has made landfall in Chicago — as part of a weeklong 70th birthday celebration in honor of the monster, filled with film screenings, guests and activities at the Music Box Theater.
The event, “Godzilla vs Music Box,” runs through Thursday at the theater, 3733 N. Southport Ave. In Wrigleyville.
On Friday evening, the theater hosted a double screening of the latest Godzilla films, “Shin Godzilla” and “Godzilla Minus One” from Japanese entertainment company Toho. The main event, a 24-hour movie marathon featuring 23 of the 35 monster movies from the 1950s to 1970s, kicked off at noon on Saturday and continues until noon on Sunday. By the start of the show, the 650-person theater was nearly sold out — a fraction of the 5,000 that were expected to come during the week, according to Kyle Cooper, the theater's senior director of operations.
Cooper has been trying to make a great Godzilla movie for nearly a decade. Coming out of the pandemic, while movie studios were still hesitant to release as many films as possible, the Music Box hosted a weekend of kung fu and kaiju movies. The success proved there was interest, and the Japan Arts Foundation went on to celebrate its 70th anniversary. He said the opportunity seemed perfect.
A nearly sold-out crowd watches the opening sequence of the 1954 film “Godzilla” Saturday at the Music Box Theater at the start of a 24-hour movie marathon.
A lifelong Godzilla fan, Cooper said it started when he rented 1963's “King Kong vs. Godzilla” as a kid and saw Roland Emmerich's 1998 “Godzilla” in theaters. Local news interviewed him while they were writing a story at a nearby zoo about the iguana from which the film said Godzilla originated; He got a copy of it from his mother, and it will be broadcast before the film's 5pm screening on Sunday.
“A lot of people love Godzilla, and I just want to share that love with them,” Cooper said. “Happy birthday, Godzilla.”
In addition to the films, guests like Svengoolie and Field Museum Insects Collections assistant Jim Louderman — who will bring live insects before a screening of the 1964 film “Mothra vs. Godzilla” — will accompany the films throughout the week, as well as vendors.
Nathan Grady, co-owner of Japanese collectibles store Otakumerica, holds a $1,300 “Godzilla with tower” toy that a child plays with in the opening scene of “Godzilla vs. Hedorah” at the Music Box Theater on Saturday. It was among hundreds of collectibles sold during the theater's 24-hour monster movie marathon.
On Tuesday, the film that started it all, 1954's “Godzilla,” will be introduced by film historian David Kalat, who has written two books about Toho's monster films.
The self-proclaimed “Godzilla universe” was introduced to the series via a theatrical double feature that began with 1973's “Godzilla vs. Megalon,” which remains a cult favorite. However, when he began studying cinema, he began to realize that critics were not taking films seriously or giving them enough credit.
In his view, film innovations cemented it in the history of cinema, creating its own “gods.”
“A lot of what was written about Godzilla movies of that era was not only derogatory, it was racist,” the La Grange Park resident said. “It's much more difficult to entertain people than to disappoint them; anyone can do it. If you want to get people excited and interested in your characters in a culture and language they don't belong to, that's extraordinary. These films are made by artists at the top of their game.”
As an extension of this, some of the later, more serious films were changed in the English versions to make them live up to the campy expectations the studios thought people had, even when they excluded films like 1984's “The Return of Godzilla,” Klatt said. It was released a year later in the United States, where it transformed from a “dark horror film” into a disjointed comedy with erratic tonal shifts.
According to Kalat, the original Japanese version of the film only saw a handful of showings in the United States, but Cooper was able to obtain a film copy in his quest to collect as many 35mm reels as possible — and he even reached out to private collectors. To get rare discounts. Although he did not get all of them, including several “Heisei Era” films, he said he aims to show them in the future.
Kalat said he is excited to see the original version of the film again, but he is even more excited to share the experience with others.
“We have an increasingly divided pop culture world, so being able to have a shared experience like this is very difficult,” he said. “So to bring all these films together in this way with an audience that is ready for them is something unique.”
Winter Darcy, 21, a longtime fan and South Loop resident, pulled her friend Rosalie Allen, also from the South Loop, to stand outside the theater at 9 a.m. Saturday, two hours before the doors opened. Darcy, a fan of 24-hour movie marathons, already knew where she wanted to sit in the cinema, though she was most excited to experience what Klatt described.
“It's become this huge team event,” Darcy said. “I've never seen any of these films in a theater, so being able to experience these films with an audience is a big deal for me.”
Friends Grayson Spitzer and Tyler Frazier (left) stand in line before friends Winter D'Arcy and Rosalie Allen on Saturday for the 24-hour Godzilla movie marathon at the Music Box Theater.
