Section B·Page 22
Monday, August 21, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
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Entertainment
Sony buys into low-budget Godzilla
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A guy in a lizard suit stomps on a building. Ahh, the memories.
Godzilla 2000, opening Friday, is the first of the Japanese reptile flicks to play American theaters in 15 years. Distributor Sony is launching the new movie in about 2,000 theaters, hoping nostalgia for one of moviedom's favorite behemoths and interest in Japanese creations such as Pokemon will help fill seats.
The idea to return the low-tech lizard to cinemas came when Sony distribution chief Jeff Blake visited Japan last year and saw huge lines for the movie at theaters.
"Clearly, the Godzilla myth is
downright beloved in Japan," he said. "People here certainly have a lot of recognition for Godzilla. There's some affection for him among baby boomers, and kids may take to it because things like Pokemon have them interested in Japanese product."
The monster's first screen appearance came in 1954. Since Godzilla supposedly evolved because of radiation created by humans, some have intellectualized the monster as a cautionary tale about nuclear power and weapons. Others simply found the movies goofy fun.
Toho Studios, current producer of the movies, killed off the monster in 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoryar in anticipation of the coming Hollywood version. Though 1986's Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick, grossed a healthy $380 million worldwide, many fans felt it failed to capture the spirit of the giant reptile, who generally tries to protect humanity despite his destructiveness.
his use.
For Godzilla 2000, Toho simply picked up the story as if the monster had never died. This time, Godzilla battles a 60-million-year-old meteorite that transforms into a UFO and later another gigantic creature.
The theatrical release of Godzilla 2000 is not a huge risk for Sony. The studio acquired the U.S. rights, reedit the movie and dubbed it into English for less than $1 million. Film prints and advertising run an estimated $10 million to $12 million,
modest by Hollywood standards.
Like previous Japanese takes on Godzilla, the title character is played by a stunt man (Tsutomu Kitagawa) inside an elaborate costume. Instead of the computer-animated effects when Godzilla took Manhattan in the Hollywood version, the creature in Godzilla 2000 runs amok on miniature sets.
The effects are a notch above previous Godzilla movies but are still primitive. The movie also features the wretched dialogue audiences love to giggle over, part of the campy charm of a Godzilla picture.
"I can't imagine a life form that could survive 60 million years," utters one character. "Good Lord, let's just hope it is friendly."
Movie documents life of hippie activist
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Abbie Hoffman is gone, but the hippie prankster's spirit lingers.
A new movie tracing Hoffman's 1960s activism, odd romantic life and years as a fugitive, hits theaters Friday. Steal This Movie stars Vincent D'Onofrio as Hoffman, Janeane Garofalo as his wife, Anita, and Jeanne Triplephelle as his common-law wife, Johanna Lawrenson. The movie comes three decades after the Chicago Seven trial and 11
years after Hoffman's death, which was ruled a suicide.
The scene outside this summer's Democratic National Convention at times resembled the giddy anarchy in which Hoffman played a leading role during the 1968 convention, with police in riot gear, rubber bullets fired at protesters and officers on horseback chasing off demonstrators.
book Steal This Book.
"Abbie would be joyous," said Robert Greenwald, producer and director of Steal This Movie, whose title was borrowed from Hoffman's
"He would have been dancing down the street, rocking and rolling with Rage Against the Machine, singing backup to Bonnie Raitt, making the puppets," Greenwald said. "He stood for changing the world but having fun while doing it. Making love and still making a revolution."
Steal This Movie traces Hoffman's beginnings as a buttoned-down campus activist whose clean-cut look prompts a student to call him a narc, his development into a wild-haired
social trickster who organized the "levitation" of the Pentagon by antiwar protesters and the circus-like Chicago Seven trial.
In his spirit, the filmmakers have been lending Steal This Movie for screenings to benefit Planned Parenthood. Refuse & Resist and other social groups.
"Through that, through the benefit screenings, the movie is trying to do what Abby did his whole life," D'Onofrio said. "He made protesting for social change interesting, he made it exciting."
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