Годзилла 1985: Американская адаптация и закулисные истории

After acquiring The Return of Godzilla for distribution in North America, New World put producer Tony Randel in charge of adapting the film for U. S. audiences. Randel and New World believed that The Return of Godzilla had so much inescapably "goofy" content that Americans would never take it seriously, and the only way to make it a success was by emphasizing its campiness. Their initial plan was to dub the Japanese footage into English in a straightforward, no nonsense manner, and add in new scenes with American actors which would add the desired comic relief. Two screenwriters were recruited: Lisa Tomei wrote the script for the dub, and Straw Weisman wrote the script for the new scenes. Randel eventually decided to retitle the film Godzilla 1985, inspired by one of his childhood favorites, Frankenstein 1970. Around ten minutes of new footage were added for the New World adaptation, most of it at The Pentagon. New World originally planned to tap Lorne Greene as the star of these new scenes, but Randel suggested that casting Raymond Burr would be a good homage to Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, as Burr had performed the same duty of starring in new American footage for that film. According to Randel, Burr was enthusiastic about the film when offered the role, but after being signed on he made several unusual demands. The new footage was shot over three days, but Burr was only on the set for the first day, and was adamant that he would work no more than eight hours, forcing the director to focus on shooting Burr only and save reaction shots for later. Burr also refused to memorize his lines, insisting that teleprompters be strategically positioned around the set instead, despite the logistical difficulties this presented for the crew. Burr also made clear that he took the concept of Godzilla as an anti nuclear allegory seriously and would not treat it as a joke. Warren Kemmerling also refused to do comic material, though not out of respect for Godzilla, so the script was revamped to reassign all the comedic lines to Travis Swords. Filming of the new footage was done at the Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles and a house in Malibu. The "war room" was a large montage of the war room from The Philadelphia Experiment, another film from the same studio. The poster image was the same as for the Japanese version, but a green tinting was added to Godzilla's charcoal gray skin and the Soviet attack satellite in the upper right corner was removed. Dr Pepper launched a US$10 million advertising campaign for the film. The soda brand is prominently featured in the new footage, such as a vending machine at The Pentagon.

Opening on August 23, 1985, in 235 North American theaters, the film grossed $509,502 ($2,168 per screen) in its opening weekend, on its way to a $4,116,710 total gross. Over time, Godzilla 1985, though not a hit, became somewhat profitable for New World after including the revenues from home video and television syndication. The film debuted on television on May 16, 1986. It was the last Godzilla film produced by Toho to receive any major release in North American theaters until Godzilla 2000 fifteen years later.

Godzilla 1985 was negatively received by critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 27% approval rating based on 11 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100 based on six critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Roger Ebert, who gave the film one star in the Chicago Sun Times, argued that a film can only succeed as a "so bad it's good" experience if the filmmakers have made a sincere effort to create a good film, and pointed out evidence that the makers of Godzilla 1985 were instead deliberately trying to create a "so bad it's good" film, such as how the dialogue is consistently rather than occasionally awful, the conspicuous lack of synchronization in the lip synching, and the inconsistency of Godzilla's size. He also derided Raymond Burr's scenes due to his character's lack of dramatic involvement with the plot. Similarly, the film's "dire" plot and dialogue were criticised by The Encyclopedia of Scientific Fiction, despite the review praising the special effects. Tom Long of the Santa Cruz Sentinel similarly derided the inconsequentiality of Burr's role. While he considered the film more successful as a "so bad it's good" experience than Ebert did, he felt the appeal got old after the first half hour: "After that you start thinking about all the other things you could be doing instead of watching the same joke repeat itself for another hour." Vincent Canby of the New York Times also panned the film. He focused mainly on how it failed to update either its themes or special effects from those seen in the 1950s Godzilla films, elaborating that Godzilla "still looks like a wind up toy, one that moves like an arthritic toddler with a fondness for walking through teeny tiny skyscrapers" and "What small story there is contains a chaste romance and lots of references to the lessons to be learned from 'this strangely innocent but tragic creature.'"

The film was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Picture and was also nominated for two Razzie Awards, including Worst Supporting Actor for Raymond Burr and Worst New Star for the new computerized Godzilla.

Godzilla 1985 has been released in the United States several times on VHS. The first was by New World in the mid 1980s. By March 1986, it had sold 90,000 units at $79.95 each in the United States, generating $7,195,500 in gross revenue and earning $4.5 million at wholesale. It was one of New World's most successful home video releases at the time. The second was by Starmaker (under license by R&G Video) in 1992, and the third by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 1997. All VHS home video releases include the Bambi Meets Godzilla animated short. While The Return of Godzilla has been released on DVD and Blu ray by Kraken Releasing, with an additional dubbed version for the international market, Godzilla 1985 has not been released on either format.