Heisei/Millennium Godzilla Cover Make-Overs (WIP)

G. H. (Gman)

If I haven't made it clear in the past I'll shoot straight now: I hate-- absolutely loath the Bluray covers for every Godzilla movie released in North America from Godzilla vs. Biollante through Godzilla: Final Wars. (Alright, Godzilla against MechaGodzilla gets a pass.) They are some of the most horrible photoshop disasters and blandest Toho posters produced. 

I also like my Godzilla releases having their own individual cases. So as a result I've been working slowly, very slowly, on a project to pay better respect to my Godzilla collection.

I need to note, however, this is a work in progress and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. I'm not a graphic artist. I never have been nor will I be. So the time I spend on these in a single sitting isn't great, but I've come back to it multiple times throughout the year. I've finally landed on a template I like.

I'm attempting to ape the Classic Media and Kraken Releasing format to an extent. And although I hold no love for the fonts that Sony used with their releases, I like my discs and covers to match, thus I'll be using them for the remaining movies.

The movies I intend to give new covers are as follows: Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla 2000, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla against MechaGodzilla, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. and Godzilla: Final Wars.

Criticisms would be helpful as well.

EDIT: I've worked out some kinks. Final designs will be posted here when they're done. Right click the image and select "View Image" to se a bigger version. Message me if you'd like to use any of these:

Godzilla vs. Biollante

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

npinkham19

I can never find the name of the artist who did the poster art for the entire Heisei series and most of the millenium but his work is outstanding. I about died as a kid when I walked into the video store and saw that vhs cover for Biollante. I wish Mechagodzilla 1993 looked like his poster with a more powerful 1974 like robot and a Rodan that resembles his original (and still best 1956) look.

NateZilla10000

I'm not dissing your work here, but why not just replace the covers with their Japanese Blu Ray counter parts?

It'd be a lot less work.

G. H. (Gman)

Natezilla,
I'm not a huge fan of the Japanese Bluray covers either. Of the ones you posted only Godzilla against MechaGodzilla featured some really great artwork. The rest are either publicity photos or bad photoshops. I'm a fan of romanticized poster art from 70s and 80s Hollywood and with the exception of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. the Heisei and Millennium series had some really gorgeous artwork which rarely gets used.

In addition to that I believe the boxart should still reflect what's on the actual disc and seeing as I A) Can't read Japanese and B) the information on those Japanese back covers wouldn't match the extras and information on the North American discs it seems counterproductive to use them. Plus there's an obvious lack of title-font connection between the covers you posted and the discs released in North America. I'm a stickler about that as well.

Something Real

GMAN2887 - The work you've produced is astonishing! I greatly enjoy the use of the older artwork - very nice! Keep up the excellent work and thank you so very much for sharing this with us! :)

G. H. (Gman)

NPinkham19,
The poster artist for the Heisei series and at least two of the Millennium films was Noriyoshi Ohrai. Sorry I didn't tell you that earlier.

G. H. (Gman)

This is more or less the final result. I'll be moving to Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah next. Right click and hit "View Image" to see it much bigger:

If anyone would like the final version to print out for your own bluray discs, PM me and I'll send you a link to the full sized final.

Durp004

Well that blows away the DVD cas I have. It reminds me of the one from the VHS case I have somewhere in storage

G. H. (Gman)

Slowly transitioning to the next movie. Note that the Miramax and Echo Bridge stickers are gone. They'll be replaced with Sony/Columbia stickers instead. I've yet to change the credits over and I'm adding an extra picture to hide some photoshop flaws. As usual, any criticism would be nice. The restshould go faster since they're all Sony and I won't have to switch up that information anymore.

The King of the Monsters

I really wish that the other DVD and Blu-Ray distributors would emulate what Classic Media and Kraken Releasing did with designing their DVDs and Blu-Rays. These already look infinitely better than the other covers available from Sony and Echo Bridge.

Huge-Ben

....................................................................Dang!!!!!!!!!!!

G. H. (Gman)

Wrapped up Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. The big change here is that all the Echo Bridge stickers, copyright and information has been replaced with Sony/Tristar stickers, info, addressess, etc. Since the rest of the films are from Sony, the rest will be considerably easier to ditch out. Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth is next on the chopping block.

G. H. (Gman)

Another preview of things to come.

And I'm struggling with the metallic text it looks fine on the front and the "special features" on the back. But it's a little hard to make out with anything else. I'm going to stick my guns with it for now, but if I stumble on something easier on the eyes I'll replace it.

Ricsi305

natezilla10000 please upload The Rebirth of an Icon video to the YouTube

G. H. (Gman)

You know what's next.

Durp004

As much as I love the covers for Godzilla vs Mothra: Battle for Earth, and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II being my favorite cover of all time I really feel like the author never saw these movies or stories before drawing it since the Godzilla vs Mothra one looks like it was made with the showa movie in mind and the Mechagodzilla on GvsMGII looks like a more badass version of the showa era's version moreso than the one we got in 92.

G. H. (Gman)

^I think timing was everything. My guess is that Toho knew what monster and vague direction they were going with those films, but didn't have the stories or designs down pat.

The King of the Monsters

^ Which is exactly what I love about those posters. They give a nice imaginitive epic view of the movies without being limited by the stiffness of the suits (Destoroyah) and props (Rodan). The artist who drew the posters apparently also designed the Japanese Star Wars posters, artwork of which is popular among Star Wars fans even in the U.S.

Durp004

I don't think any of that would have changed had the artist known the story. The Godzilla vs Mothra one is the worst about giving a false impression. I remember as a young child seeing that case at blockbuster and not renting it for a while simply because I thought it was the showa movie with a different case.

G. H. (Gman)

Been out of town for work, so the roll out has been slow. Here's the next cover:

G. H. (Gman)

Finally getting back to these, I've landed on a replacement for the secondary titles. I think I'll be sticking with this for the meantime:

The others with the changed font have been added in the original post.

G. H. (Gman)

Basic layout of SpaceGodzilla. The goal was to trick people into thinking this is a hell of a movie. I might remove Godzilla on the back though.

Huge-Ben

Gman, these are not bad man. What do you plan on for Godzilla vs Destroyah?

G. H. (Gman)

Not entirely sure. In fact I'm stuck on SpaceGodzilla because I'm not convinced that's the image that needs to be used for the back. Naturally I already have poster art and title font ready for Destoroyah though.

Looking forward to starting the Millennium movies soon after.

I'm also considering modifying them for DVD for those who have yet to upgrade to Bluray. The issue there though is that King Ghidorah/Mothra and SpaceGodzilla/Destoroyah are on those awful double-sided discs.

CosmicRaptor

Made an account just to thank you for doing this service for Godzilla fans cause good lord the Biollante cover they sell it with is so pitiful. She looks defeated already on that cover for Godzilla's sake!

gojifan02

These are cool Gman. Nice work

G. H. (Gman)

Not quite done. But it's getting there. I really wrestled with the back. I tried a lot of different images: MOGUERA, MOGUERA flying, Godzilla, Godzilla roaring, the city with the three monsters in battle...etc...etc... but going minimal ended up being the best route. I like the fact that Fukuoka Tower is an important visual center piece to the movie... despite how flawed its inclusion is. Hopefully I'll finish it soon.

The King of the Monsters

Oh man it's good to see an update for this. All of these covers are miles ahead of any existing Blu-ray or DVD releases of the films. Of course, I am a sucker for Ohrai's poster artwork.

G. H. (Gman)

So am I, but I'm stuck on SpaceGodzilla. What I have is just not working. I might set it aside and work on Destoroyah for just a bit.

Huge-Ben

Gman, i don't find a damn thing wrong with that spacegodzilla cover. Looks just fine to me.

The King of the Monsters

Hmm. I definitely think the Fukuoka Tower works well on the back cover. I might suggest adapting the original front cover image for TriStar's VHS and DVD cover/Sony's Blu-ray cover to fit that space on the back, but I'm not sure how well that would fit or if it would even look good.