Godzilla Vs. Megalon - English Versions

English Versions

In 1976, Cinema Shares released Godzilla vs. Megalon theatrically. Riding the coattails of Dino De Laurentiis' big-budget King Kong remake, The poster art showed Godzilla and Megalon battling on top of the World Trade Center, despite the fact that no scenes were set in New York City. As it would with its later Godzilla releases, Cinema Shares opted to use the English dub created by Toho.

Cinema Shares originally released the film with very few edits. Eventually, more cuts were made, supposedly to keep a "G"-rating from the MPAA. Edits include:

• The opening credits, except for the title and a "Produced by Toho-Eizo Co., Ltd." credit.

• Rokuro being abducted by Seatopian agents, who pull him into their car.

• The Seatopian agents knocking out Rokuro and barging inside.

• Scenes in the container truck that showed pin-ups on the back wall.

• A scene of the bearded Caucasian Seatopian agent being thrown down a cliff by the truck drivers.

• The lead Seatopian is hit in the face with the model jet, causing him to bleed.

• The same Seatopian agent is crushed by a boulder hurled by Megalon.

With this being the first of the three Cinema Shares Godzilla releases, the publicity factor was high. Along with the poster, buttons with one of the four monsters' faces on them were released. Given away at theatrical showings was a comic herald that told a simplified version of the film. There were several errors like monster's names and locations and events. The theatrical trailer for the film also contain these errors, most notably Jet Jaguar being called "Robotman."

The press kit also included Godzilla, Megalon, Gigan, and Jet Jaguar in cars. This is a reflection of the Aurora kits with Godzilla riding a race car. Along with the press kit was a "Vote Godzilla for President" ad that, if mailed in, resulted in the receipt of a free ticket to the film.

Godzilla vs. Megalon was given a high-profile prime-time NBC network premiere in 1977, with an introduction and bumper segments by John Belushi in a Godzilla suit also used on Saturday Night Live. NBC extensively cut the film so that it would fit in a one-hour time slot.