Gamera 50th Anniversary Film Announced!

*NOTE*: Credit goes to August Ragone for the information concerning the new Gamera film as well as the two images in this article. Any speculation in this article is that of my own. The new trailer is posted below.

Fans have wondered, for some time, as to whether or not Kadokawa would celebrate Gamera’s 50th anniversary by producing a new film.

There were various rumors throughout the year that an announcement would come concerning a possible project, but many fans were left with the notion that such a film would not come through.

Alas, that time has come!

At NYCC, on October 8th, 2015, Kadokawa announced a 50th anniversary Gamera film that, for the moment, is simply titled: “Gamera.”

A  four minute “trailer,” (read that as pilot trailer) was released to the public and it was also announced that Katsuhito Ishii would direct the new film. Ishii has never directed a kaiju movie prior to “Gamera.”

Ishii, however, has won numerous awards and acclaim in Japan for some of his films including Party 7 and The Taste of Tea.

The trailer showcases kaiju and landscapes in CGI. The CGI is incredibly convincing and even a couple close-up shots of Gamera look like man-in-suit techniques were employed.

Here is the description of the movie from August Ragone:

In a near-future Tokyo, giant monsters, known as ‘kaiju’, are thriving and terrorizing the populace. Manafu, a young boy, whose father is killed when the Gyaos strike the metropolis, is the only one who is saved by Gamera. What will Manafu’s destiny be…?

At the time, there is no release date announced.

The rest of this article will contain my own thoughts and speculation on the film.

It appears that there will be a new kaiju for Gamera to battle in this film. If you watch the trailer, the kaiju is shown at the end. Whether this kaiju will, indeed, be the big baddie, or be one of several kaiju, has yet to be known.

The film appears to be apocalyptical in tone and reminds me of Pacific Rim in that, possibly, a gauntlet of kaiju will be rampaging Tokyo.

The Gyaos look terrifying as they swoop down, picking people off. The film appears to also continue showing scenes of extreme violence as we see, in the trailer, Gyaos getting stepped on, roasted, and the boy’s father’s limbs falling from the Gyaos’s mouth as he is being devoured. It’s a cringe-worthy scene to say the least.

The movie looks to be one that will satisfy many fans–especially those who enjoyed the Heisei Gamera films.

Check out the trailer below!