Doomsday bells toll when the megamonster Godzilla, trampling over Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant, is on the verge of a nuclear meltdown capable of reducing the planet to oblivion. Oxygen Destroyer, the deadly weapon responsible for the death of the original Godzilla, is resurrected to battle the ticking time-bomb. The menacing Destoroyah spawns with a single goal: to destroy everything in sight. In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, living manifestations of humanity’s inherent greed and violence converge in Tokyo Bay for a final showdown that marks the end of the Heisei era Godzilla, which thrilled audiences from 1984 to 1995.

Marketed with the slogan ‘Godzilla dies’, this film was a climactic finale for Godzilla’s reign over Japanese cinema for almost half a century. The studio was immediately met with demands for its revival upon the film’s initial release, even though the Japanese franchise was supposed to make way for the first American iteration of the famous kaiju. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was a fitting end of an era, paying homage to the original film with memorable battles and a quintessential final score by composer Akira Ifukube.

Takao Okawara (b. 1949, Japan) is a Japanese film director, writer, and producer most notable for his directorial efforts in the Heisei era Godzilla franchise. He joined Toho Studios in the 1970s as an assistant director and worked on major studio films such as The Return of Godzilla and Kagemusha. After years of unsuccessful pitches, Okawara finally made his debut as director with Chōshōjo Reiko in 1991 and would go on to direct some of the most successful Heisei Godzilla films including Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993).