It’s a miracle when a good movie rises from the ashes and from the Twitter buzz so far it looks that Godzilla is poised to do just that. Despite a pan from TIME mag’s Richard Corliss, and a few lackluster reviews, the monster pic has charmed almost everyone else, especially the key demographic that helps to spread the word, so much so that you could be looking at one of your top five earners for the year, very likely. Good word of mouth at the outset can make the difference between a regular old blockbuster and a worldwide phenomenon. I’m going to guess that Godzilla is known the world over, which ensures those coveted international dollars and that, with the hype that’s been building here, it will do enough business to launch it into the Oscar race, at least in the tech categories.
Of course, where there used to be a handful of these kinds of effects-driven films, now they dominate the market, along with family movies. Sooner or later, as we keep saying, the Academy is going to have to address this. Godzilla is the perfect kind of film to be considered for a category that might be called Best Effects Driven Motion Picture. This seems to me the way the Academy can evolve towards film’s inevitable future. Just a thought.