Date Set for Unleashing of \'Godzilla\'

September 14, 2012, 11:43 am

By RANDY KENNEDY

Godzilla last lumbered into American movie theaters in 1998 and gobbled up a respectable pile of money â€" $136 million in domestic ticket sales â€" while swatting away swarms of nasty reviews with his big scaly C.G.I. paws.

Now the beast is headed back for another bite. Warner Brothers Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced that their new take on the classic urban-attack franchise would open in theaters May 16, 2014. The movie will be directed by Gareth Edwards, whose 2010 film, “Monsters,”was made for only about half a million dollars, undoubtedly a fraction of what his new monster movie will cost.

David Callaham, known for “The Expendables” movies, and David S. Goyer (the “Dark K night” trilogy), will write the screenplay with Max Borenstein. In a statement the studios promised that the new film would “return the character to its epic roots with a gritty, realistic actioner.”