Godzilla B.C.

Godzilla B.C. is an American Epic Monster film directed by Michael Dougherty. A "Ray Harryhausen-Esque" prequel to the other films and series, the film is the

seventh installment of the MonsterVerse (as well as the first film for Phase 2); the 39th film in the Godzilla franchise and the sixth Godzilla film to be completely produced by an american film studio. The film exploits how Godzilla's Species and the other giant monsters, called Titans, fought King Ghidorah before and during the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event.

Director Michael Dougherty and Writer Max Borenstein expressed interest in a Godzilla film with no humans since the release of Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019). Due to the success of the previous film, Mothra: Earth's Protector (2025) and the anime Monarch G-Team (2025-), the film was greenlit and was written by Borenstein, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and was filmed throughout mid to late 2025.

Godzilla B.C. was theatrically released on June 9, 2026 to critical acclaim, with praise for it's focus on monsters instead of humans, who don't appear in the film expect for narration by Bryan Cranston in the opening. The film also received praise for it's "60's to 70's style" marketing, music, cinematography, editing, and tone. The film was a box office success, grossing $500 million at the end of it's theatrical run, against it's $250 million budget and a break-even point of $400 million. The film received several nominations at the 99th Academy Awards, as well as serval other Awards.

Plot
A narrator (Bryan Cranston) opens the film by acknowledging the history of life on Earth and the Titans, prehistoric giants who have ruled, and may always rule the planet. During the Great Dying, a pack of Godzillas flee the ensuing chaos by entering the hollow earth, showing their survival instincts. A female Godzilla of the pack, Rozan, finds a nest and lays eggs.

In the Cretaceous Period of North America, Godzillas of the pack are led by Alpha Ultima, mate of Rozan, and their cubs. Spring had just begun, as swarms of MUTOs begin to migrate, starting a seasonal hunt. The pack successfully hunt down a male MUTO and return to the nest to share it. However, an Anguirus steals it, and Ultima fights it. The two Titans battle in equal strength, but luckily Ultima wins back the dead MUTO. As Ultima and the other Godzillas enjoy their food, Ultima senses something.

Upon entering the Hollow Earth, Ultima spots another pack of Godzillas. Upon further investigation across the Hollow Earth, Ultima finally senses a disturbance.

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Titans and Superspecies
· Godzilla (Species)

· King Ghidorah

· Mothra (Species)

· Anguirus

· Rodan (Species)

· Megaguirus

· Baragon

· Desghidorah

· Fairy Mothra

· MUTO (Species)

· Gorosaurus

· Tiamat

· Tyrannosaurus Rex

· Triceratops

· Hollow Earth Lizard

· Dakotaraptor

· Ankylosaurus

· Edmontosaurus

· Pachycephalosaurus

· Quetzalcoatlus

· Leafwings

· Rock Critter

· Mosasaurus

· Meganulon

· Meganula

· Ornithomimus

· Warbats

· Alamosaurus

· Anzu

· Struthiomimus

· Parasaurolophus

· Pachyrhinosaurus

· Dimetrodon

· Scutosaurus

· Genitor

· Death Jackal

· Hellhawk

· Snarehunter

· Ion Dragon

Influences
Major influences for the film include One Million Years B.C., Primal, Godzilla: Rage Across Time, The Walking With... Series, 300, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, Age Of Reptiles, The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Fantasia's The Rite Of Spring, and The Bear (1988).

Development
In 2019, Michael Dougherty thought of making a Godzilla prequel movie where it only focuses on the Monsters rather than human characters. He called this idea "Godzilla B.C.," which would be the final title of the film.

In August 2021, Max Borenstein said in an interview with Slashfilm about Dougherty's idea, "I do think it could be done. I was thinking about the same thing. I think it would be amazing, actually. Given the success of Godzilla vs. Kong, I'm kind of hoping in whatever the next phase Legendary decides to do that we would like to see that. I think it'd be pretty cool. I think it is possible. It would be ambitious. I think ambitious in that Mad Max: Fury Road way. I think it's possible to do that with the absolute minimum amount of human characters and really characterize the creatures." The idea received mixed reactions from fans.

In 2024, Godzilla B.C. as well as Mothra: Earth's Protector, Monarch G-Team and Rodan vs. Megaguirus we're all announced, with Godzilla B.C. gaining it's 2026 release date. Later that year, Dougherty was announced as director of the film and it's synopsis revealed that it would be focused entirely on Godzilla's species and the Titans in the Mesozoic rather than put in a human cast for "realism." Director of Godzilla (2014), Gareth Edwards called this move away from human characters "risky but ambitious."

Writing
In July 2024, it was revealed that Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Max Borenstein would all write the film. Borenstein stating, "It is a pleasure to finally write this ambitious story with Godzilla and some old faces in a time before we even existed."

Filming
Principal photography began on June 25, 2025, near Stewart, British Columbia, under the working title "Titans B.C." Cinematographer Larry Fong called it "a very beautiful first day. No clouds at all, just very beautiful and blue skies, the sun was beating down on all of us. It was hot, but we had water thankfully." Filming also occurred around Calgary, Alberta on June 26, 2025. July 2025 saw filming take place in Village Roadshow Studios, Iceland and the Dolomites in Italy. Scenes set in the Hollow Earth were filmed in Manoa Falls and Australia. In August, one of the many battles seen in the film was filmed in Lake Ashi, Mount Hakone and Iceland.

Primary filming locations from September to October 2025 include Hakone, Yellowstone National Park, Thermopylae, Western Norway, Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Pinewood Studios. Filming official concluded in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico in late October of 2025, just as post production began 15 days and two weeks before. Michael Dougherty said about the film's principal photography, "It was awesome, it was like filming a nature documentary about Godzilla and the titans. It will be very beautiful to see once the film finally drops next year."

Post-production
Despite filming being officially complete on October 30, Post-production began on October 15. Visual effects were surprised by Jim Rygiel, Guillaume Rocheron, John "DJ" Desjardin and Alessandro Ongaro, all of them having previously worked on previous MonsterVerse films. Visual and special effects companies that worked on the film include Hybride Technologies, the Moving Picture Company (MPC), Double Negative (DNEG), Weta Digital, Amalgamated Dynamics (ADI), Scanline VFX, Trixter, Framestore, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Milk VFX, etc. Production of the film was officially complete on November 3, 2025.

Music
Bear McCreary returned to compose music for the film after doing so for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. Like last time, he adapted Akira Ifukube's Godzilla theme, as well as Masaru Sato's work on Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). McCreary also made new music inspired by Mario Nascimbene's work on One Million Years B.C. and When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth. He also adapted Junkie XL's Godzilla Theme for one track. McCreary made a new theme for Mothra inspired by Rei's theme in the Evangelion franchise. A recording of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring was also used.

Track listing

 * 1) In The Beginning... (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 2) New Dawn
 * 3) The Rite of Spring (Written by Igor Stravinsky)
 * 4) The Hunt
 * 5) Anguirus (Written by Masaru Sato)
 * 6) Feeding Time
 * 7) Finding The Hollow Earth
 * 8) Another Pack (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 9) Disturbance (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 10) March of the Godzillas (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 11) Ghidorah Attacks (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 12) War of the Titans
 * 13) Escape
 * 14) Mothra, Beyond the Heart
 * 15) Volcanic Wastes
 * 16) Battle of the Godzillas (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 17) The Asteroid
 * 18) Ghidorah Returns (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 19) Swarm
 * 20) The Fires of War
 * 21) Extinction
 * 22) Final Victory (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 23) Epilogue (Written by Akira Ifukube)
 * 24) Credits Sequence (Written by Akira Ifukube)

Marketing
The first screenshot of the film was released by Total Film on November 3, 2025, on "Godzilla Day." The first trailer was released on December 14, 2025. The trailer was a homage to classic film trailers to One Million Years B.C. and the Godzilla films of the 50s to 70s. The trailer went viral and became the #1 most viewed trailer in the first 24 hours, beating the trailer for Avengers: Endgame 7 years earlier. A second 1 one minute and 55 second trailer was released on March 24, 2026.

Licenses that promoted the film include Playmates Toys, Bandai, The Lego Group, Funko, Snickers, McDonald's, Bioworld, Rubies, 60Out, The Virtual Reality Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Act II, Kellogg's and CKE Restaurants. Through the publishing program, Legendary published two comic book series based on the film, one is based on the film and the other is a sequel comic called "Godzilla and Kong B.C." that focuses on how primitive humans survived against the Titans, including their first encounter with Godzilla and King Kong's species and how their relationship was christened. The Art of Godzilla B.C. was also published by Legendary, as well as a novelization.

Warner Bros. Games, Bandai Namco and Ubisoft collaborated to release a video of the same name, as they did with the video game based on Mothra: Earth's Protector a year prior.

Home Media
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Box Office
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Critical Response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film as a perfect 100% "Fresh" approval rating based on 430 reviews, with an average rating of 9.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Godzilla B.C. is a new movie in the style of an old school one, a beautiful epic which mixes the traditions of Godzilla with the hearts of 300 and Walking With Dinosaurs." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean score, the film has a score of 95 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "universal acclaim. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. PostTrak reported 100% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 98% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Kirk Honeycutt, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, praised the film, favorably comparing it to 300 (2007). Honeycutt described it as "a breath of fresh air for the Big G." Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) director Adam Wingard praised the film, saying that "It delivers the spectacle of my two films in this franchise on a much larger scale." The film also made him "jealous" because of that. A. O. Scott of The New York Times and At The Movies called it a "epic, violent, beautiful and ambitious and it's smarter than 300 and Apocalypto combined."

Paleontologist Mark Witton praised the dinosaurs and other prehistoric fauna onscreen, stating that "they did good at accuracy. None of the animals look off." Peter Bradshaw also praised the film, calling it "the Apocalypse Now of Godzilla films." Robbie Collin of The Hollywood Reporter awarded the film a full five stars, praising the direction, visual and special effects, action sequences and music. Toho Kingdom said, "With it's all-monster cast, intense action, brilliant music, narration by Bryan Cranston and fantastic effects, this new chapter of the MonsterVerse is a gorgeous film following the footsteps of Jean Annaud's The Bear."

Accolades
At the 99th Academy Awards, Godzilla B.C. revived nominations for Best Picture, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Director and Best Original Score, it won 3 out of 5 nominations. The film's other nominations include three Annie Awards (winning two), five Saturn Awards (winning three), three Visual Effects Society Awards (only nominations), two Teen Choice Awards (winning one) and a win for the World Soundtrack Academy.