Godzilla's screentime through out the years

GODZILLA:THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS

Does anyone have a clear idea of godzilla's screentime in each movie? If you do, please post them in order from earliest (GOJIRA 1954) to latest (GODZILLA 2014). Do not use the 1998 film. Thats Zilla, not Godzilla.

Sicoepath

No offense, but can't you just Google it?

Durp004

I looked this up earlier and found nothing but his screen time in the 2014 movie, you might be able to find the time for certain movies, but a lot of them didn't come back with any results

GODZILLA:THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS

Thats why im asking you guys. If i had all the movies id know.

Durp004

Even if you had all the movies unless you take a stopwatch and concetrate on just the timing you still wouldn't know, you can just give estimates. For the most part it's usually between 10-20 minutes, with a few outliers

Something Real

GODZILLA:THEDESTORYEROFWORLDS - I'd have to say, with as much as I've watched the films, that Godzilla himself gets between 12-22 (roughly averaged) minutes of screen time in each of his movies. All in all, it's more than enough to get the King's point across - which typically amounts to "Boy, did you pick the wrong planet to invade!"! ;)

NateZilla10000

I actually counted it the other day.

Godzilla (2014)'s screentime is 10 minutes, 27 seconds, 18 Frames (judging by a 23.98 frames per second video).

I counted whenever the guy showed a body part on screen, whether it be scale, scute, tail, etc.

Something Real

NATEZILLA10000 - That's extremely interesting! Thank you very much for sharing this information with us! :)

G. H. (Gman)

Apparently Godzilla's on screen in Godzilla (1954) for 8 minutes and Godzilla: Final Wars for 12 minutes.

I can't confirm this myself as it's mostly hear-say, but it seems to be the agreed upon lengths.

Something Real

GMAN28827 - I believe I've heard similar accounts. Interestingly enough, one of the aspects of pre-2014 Godzilla films that most people enjoy is the climactic buildup to Godzilla finally stepping from the ocean (volcano, glacier, etc.) and delivering his undivided wrath upon the monster(s) running rampant upon the Earth. It's certainly one of mine! :)

FordBrodyLover99

@GMAN2887

Wow, really? Final Wars felt like it was atleast half an hour, but maybe thats just the movie dragging.

Anyway, as most people have noted, i dont think anyone have ever counted his appearence time in all the movies, besides 1954, 2014 and 98, for obvious reasons. And it would take a lot of time, but im sure we can get somebody too count it.

Durp004

^ That actually gave me an interesting idea. While having one person watch and time the godzilla screen time for every movie would be extremely tedious process for a forum like this if everyone was willing to watch one or two movies and time it we could likely get a rough estimate of godzilla screentime for probably most entries in the series.

G. H. (Gman)

^That's actually a good idea. Like assign different movies to different people and what have it to get the job done.

@Zillahater,
Seeing as Godzilla doesn't show up after the beginning for an hour and the battles are fairly short, it's not that surprising Godzilla is on screen for a short time in Final Wars.

NateZilla10000

If we're gonna do that, we have to make sure we all know the definition of being on screen:

1. Any body part shown counts as on screen. It doesn't matter if Godzilla is shown in a close up, long shot, medium shot, scute, tail, claw, whatever. As long as you can see a part of him, it counts.

2. Reflections and silhouttes count, but shadows do not.

3. Replay footage counts.

4. TV screens/computer monitors count.

5. If any impairment comes into play (i.e. smoke, water, buildings, etc.) the only frames that count are the ones that show (again) a piece of Godzilla. Once that piece disspears, however, and no hint of Godzilla can be seen, the footage no longer counts.

Also, some pro tips:

-It's better to count appearances in a movie editing software. Usually they tell you excactly how long a clip is, making it easier on yourself.

-If you are unsure about whether a specific frame contains a glimpse of Godzilla, check the surrounding video frames for comparison. By swutching back and forth, it's easier to tell when Godzilla shows an apperance or when he halts doing so.

SapphireOverlord

I re-wated Godzilla 2000 last night.  I think there is about maybe 4 to 6 minutes in the begining of the movie, where Godzilla is seen.  Then the last 25 minutes or so of the film mostly focuses on Godzilla when he fights the UFO and Orga.  This moive might have the most screen time for Godzilla in any moive.  I might be wrong on that, its definently higher up on the list for screentime.

G. H. (Gman)

I agree with Natezilla's criteria. I also agree editing software is the best way to confirm these scenes as legitimate representations of Godzilla's screentime.

szmigiel

On http://jokercluster.blogspot.com/ I have been going through each film and doing daikaiju runtime and screen time. Runtime is how long scenes with the daikaiju are from when they appear to when the leave. The screen time is an estimate based on using a stopwatch to record any visual part of a daikaiju on screen, full body, tail, foot, fin, head, etc… It maybe off by a few seconds but should be fairly accurate.

I am almost done with the Showa era and will hopefully be keeping up 1 a week till finished.

G. H. (Gman)

That's outstanding work Szmigiel, I love reading this stuff.

I find it hilarious that Godzilla isn't even on screen for a full 6 minutes and yet it's one of my favorites. I'm interested to see the averages once you're all wrapped up.

G. H. (Gman)

So I used Szmigiel's estimates to get a percentage of how much Godzilla takes up each movie. I've included the new film for reference as well. I didn't do all the American versions after King of the Monsters. I rounded up Godzilla's on-screen time by every 15 seconds. So while it's not an exact number, it's pretty close-- give or take .2:

Gojira - (8:45 out of 96 minutes) 9.1%
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - (8:45 out of 80 minutes) 10.9%
Godzilla Raids Again - (8:30 out of 82 minutes) 10.0%
King Kong vs. Godzilla - (9:15 out of 97 minutes) 9.5%
Mothra vs. Godzilla - (10:30 out of 88 minutes) 11.9%
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster - (8:00 out of 93 minutes) 8.6%
Monster Zero - (5:45 out of 94 minutes) 6.1%
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster - (13:00 out of 87 minutes)14.9%
Son of Godzilla - (12:00 out of 86 minutes) 13.9%
Destroy All Monsters - (8:30 out of 89) 9.5%
Godzilla's Revenge - (8:15 out of 70 minutes) 11.8%
Godzilla vs. Hedorah - (20:30 out of 85 minutes) 24.1%
Godzilla '14 - (8:00 out of 123 minutes) 6.5%

Given what we have from our friend so far, if you take the average it seems that fans are most content when Godzilla takes up about 11% of the movie's run time. Looks like Gareth has a goal to hit. ;)

G. H. (Gman)

He recently did Godzilla vs. Gigan. I think I'll update my percentages once he's finished the Showa era though.

G. H. (Gman)

Jokercluster has completed the Showa series. Here's the (rounded) percentage of how much screen time Godzilla takes up per movie. The 2014 movie thrown in for comparison since we know it:

Gojira - (8:45 out of 96 minutes) 9.1%
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - (8:45 out of 80 minutes) 10.9%
Godzilla Raids Again - (8:30 out of 82 minutes) 10.0%
King Kong vs. Godzilla - (9:15 out of 97 minutes) 9.5%
Mothra vs. Godzilla - (10:30 out of 88 minutes) 11.9%
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster - (8:00 out of 93 minutes) 8.6%
Monster Zero - (5:45 out of 94 minutes) 6.1%
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster - (13:00 out of 87 minutes)14.9%
Son of Godzilla - (12:00 out of 86 minutes) 13.9%
Destroy All Monsters - (8:30 out of 89) 9.5%
Godzilla's Revenge - (8:15 out of 70 minutes) 11.8%
Godzilla vs. Hedorah - (20:30 out of 85 minutes) 24.1%
Godzilla vs. Gigan - (16:15 out of 89 minutes) 18.6%
Godzilla vs. Megalon - (10:30 out of 81 minutes) 12.9%
Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla* - (8:00 out of 84 minutes) 9%
Terror of MechaGodzilla - (9:30 out of 83 minutes) 11.5%
Godzilla '14 - (8:00 out of 123 minutes) 6.5%

The average percentage of Godzilla's screen time per Showa movie is 12.1%. (I did not include KOTM with this average.)

*If you include the "Fake" Godzilla scenes, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla's percentage bumps up to (7:30 out of 84 minutes) 17.9%. Or 10 minutes and 30 seconds.

Edited to fit the revisions.

szmigiel

Sorry I screwed up the time posting for Godzilla in Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla. It should be 7:44, somehow I typed Anguirus time in for Godzilla. It has been updated on the blog, guess trying to do 1 a week I didn't double check enough.

G. H. (Gman)

Thanks, I'll update.

G. H. (Gman)

Szmigiel has started the Heisei series:

The Return of Godzilla - (19:00 out of 103 minutes) 18.4%

I'll update again when he's about halfway into it. I have a feeling Godzilla's screentime is going to be through the roof in this series...

Banana Trama

This is awesome, I've been searching for screentimes for a long time.

I'm planning on making a data visualization utilizing these screentimes you provided SZMIGIEL (and the rest that you'll do). And Thanks for the percentages and comprensive list Gman, I'll be paying close attentions to updates regarding this topic.

G. H. (Gman)

He's finished the Heisei series. Here's the latest update:

SHOWA

Gojira - (8:45 out of 96 minutes) 9.1%
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - (8:45 out of 80 minutes) 10.9%
Godzilla Raids Again - (8:30 out of 82 minutes) 10.0%
King Kong vs. Godzilla - (9:15 out of 97 minutes) 9.5%
Mothra vs. Godzilla - (10:30 out of 88 minutes) 11.9%
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster - (8:00 out of 93 minutes) 8.6%
Monster Zero - (5:45 out of 94 minutes) 6.1%
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster - (13:00 out of 87 minutes)14.9%
Son of Godzilla - (12:00 out of 86 minutes) 13.9%
Destroy All Monsters - (8:30 out of 89) 9.5%
Godzilla's Revenge - (8:15 out of 70 minutes) 11.8%
Godzilla vs. Hedorah - (20:30 out of 85 minutes) 24.1%
Godzilla vs. Gigan - (16:15 out of 89 minutes) 18.6%
Godzilla vs. Megalon - (10:30 out of 81 minutes) 12.9%
Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla - (8:00 out of 84 minutes) 9%
Terror of MechaGodzilla - (9:30 out of 83 minutes) 11.5%

Showa average: 12.1% or 10.4 minutes.

HEISEI

The Return of Godzilla - (19:00 out of 103 minutes) 18.4%
Godzilla vs. Biollante - (16:45 out of 104 minutes) 16.1%
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah - (14:45 out of 103 minutes) 14.3%
Godzilla & Mothra: Battle for Earth - (15:15 out of 102) 15%
Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2 - (27:00 out of 102) 26.5%
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla - (19:45 out 108) 18.2%
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah - (20:15 out of 103) 19.6%

Heisei average: 18.3% or 18.9 minutes.

Durp004

Wow kind of surprised how much Godzilla is in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2.

Darker

About 10 minutes.

szmigiel

G. H. (Gman)

Szmigiel,
Do you mind if I conjur up an article on your findings and link to your site/use those images? I think this is some really impressive research you've done here and more fans should take a gander at it.

szmigiel

Sure the information is there to be used. I plan to post a few more charts based on the information I have gathered. Next will be a chart of Godzilla's 1st appearance (also tease appearances) in each film and the total runtime.