American poster for Godzilla 2000
Godzilla 2000: Millennium is a 1999 kaiju film released in the USA under the title Godzilla 2000 and released in 2000. It is the 23rd film in the Godzilla franchise, and the first and only film to feature the Millennian aka Orga. Like The Return of Godzilla (1984), Godzilla 2000 ignores all continuity from all the Godzilla films except the first. This film is also alternatively called Godzilla: Millennium or shortened to G2K: Millennium.
Plot[]
Godzilla is a literal force of nature to Japan. The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) functions independently to study the mutant dinosaur and predict his landfalls. Meanwhile, the scientists of Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) find a sixty million year old UFO deep in the Japan Trench. As CCI attempts to raise the UFO to study it, it takes off into the sky on its own. Godzilla arrives and battles the Japan Self Defense Forces, now equipped with powerful Full Metal Missiles, but the UFO appears, searching for genetic information that only Godzilla possesses. It fights Godzilla to a standstill, driving the monster underwater, and then lands to replenish its solar power.
Yuji Shinoda, the founder of the GPN, discovers the secret to Godzilla's regenerative properties (named Organizer G1 in the Japanese version, but Regenerator G1 in the American release), but so has the UFO. It frees itself from the JSDF's attempts to contain it, and heads for Shinjuku, Japan. After landing atop City Tower, it begins to drain all the files about Godzilla from Tokyo's master computers. CCI attempts to destroy the UFO using explosive charges, but Shinoda, attempting to find out more about the aliens, is nearly caught in the blast. He survives, and joins the rest of the cast on a rooftop, watching the UFO. Almost in response, the UFO broadcasts its message of invasion and a new empire on earth, and Shinoda reveals that the aliens are after Godzilla's DNA so that they may re-form their bodies.
Godzilla arrives and again battles the UFO. However, he is subdued by the UFO's assault, and it absorbs some of his Organizer G1, growing into a squid-like creature called the Millennian. However, the Millennian is unable to control Godzilla's DNA and further mutates into a horrible monster named Orga. Godzilla recovers and fights Orga, but it eventually gains the upper hand, and drains more of Godzilla's DNA, trying to convert itself into a Godzilla clone. Finally, Orga opens its maw, intending to swallow Godzilla whole, but Godzilla tricks it by throwing his head into its throat willingly. While Orga begins to transform, Godzilla unleashes his nuclear pulse, beheading Orga and blowing the alien to bits. Godzilla then kills Mitsuo Katagiri, head of CCI, before beginning a rampage through Tokyo
Cast[]
- Takehiro Murata as Yuji Shi
- Naomi Nishida as Yuki Ichinose
- Shiro Sano as Shrio Miyasaka
- Hiroshi Abe as Mitsuo Katagiri
- Mayu Suzuki as Io Shinoda
- Tsutomu Kitagawa as Godzilla
- Makoto Ito as Orga
Box Office[]
Godzilla 2000 was produced on a budget of approximately $8,300,000. It opened in Japan on December 11, 1999 and grossed roughly $15,000,000 during its box office run, with approximately 2,000,000 admissions. The film was a moderate box office success, and was Japan's highest-grossing domestic release of the 1999 holiday season, partially due to the Y2K hype of the late 1990s.