Gamera is a 2023 monster film directed and written by Matt Reeves. A reboot of Kadokawa's Gamera franchise, it is the first American film in the Gamera series and the 14th overall. The film stars Tom Hiddleston, Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise. In the film three people discover the legend of a giant turtle called Gamera as he descends upon New York City to fight his archnemesis Gyaos. In 2018 Universal Pictures announced they have gained the rights to make a Gamera film with Michael Dougherty to direct. Dougherty later left the project to focus on Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019). Matt Reeves was later brought in. The film was supposed to be released in September 8th 2020 but was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic. It was delayed to be released in October 7th 2023 to avoid competition with other movies. Gamera was theatrically released to mostly positive reviews praising the respect to the source material, the visual effects and the performances while the runtime and pacing being criticized. The film was a box office success grossing 529 million dollars against a budget of 170 million dollars. The film's success caused Universal to greenlight 3 sequels.
Plot[]
Several million years ago the Atlanteans create a guardian monster to protect them from barbarians. The guardian the giant bird Gyaos goes crazy over hunger. Revealed to be a female it lays eggs which hatches into other Gyaos. The Atlanteans create a new monster the turtle Gamera. After a long battle Atlantis is destroyed. Gamera then hibernates only awakening when Gyaos returns. A lone egg is suspended in ice. In 2023 the egg is recovered by mining company. Meanwhile British archaeologist James Howard (Tom Hiddleston) recovers a stone slab which details the legend of Gamera. Suddenly the Gyaos egg which hatches grows to tremondous size due to eating several animals then attack London destroying Tower Bridge. The military shoots it down taking it to New York City for studies. Gamera sensing Gyaos awakens in the Arctic nd flies to the plane but decides not to destroy it sensing children. At New York City Travis Holt (Tom Cruise) and Shinichi Yuasa (Ken Watanabe) meets James who landed with the stone slab. They tell him about the legend of Atlantis when Gyaos breaks free. Gamera attacks him forcing it to flee. Due to the damage caused by Gamera the military declare him as the greater threat. Gyaos returns at night where he nearly kills James who is saved by Gamera. Despite this the military still declares him a threat. Travis who is a sergeant is sent to hunt them both. Gamera is knocked over at Washington but much to their astonishment uses his shell to fly away. After Gamera saves the inhabitants of a collapsing apartment the military commander Hank Lowery declares him not a threat. A plan to lure Gyaos at Brooklyn using meat is set. Gyaos is lured by a device which mimics birds homing signals. The army tries to capture Gyaos only for him to destroy all the attacking forces and continues a rampage destroying the Chrysler Building. Gamera arrives. Although he gets the upper hand Gyaos absorbs several radiation from a nuclear bomb it has recovered earlier and becomes Super Gyaos. Gyaos breaks the stone slab while dragging Gamera across New York City. It causes Gamera to gain more power allowing him to destroy Gyaos with a plasma fireball. Gamera leaves victorious and the humans acknowledge him as a guardian of the universe.
Crew[]
- Director: Matt Reeves
- Written by: Matt Reeves
- Produced by: Matt Reeves
- Music by: Michael Giacchino
- Edited by: Bob Duscay
- Production company: Universal Pictures
- Distributed by: Universal Pictures (worldwide), Kadokawa (Japan)
Cast[]
- Tom Hiddleston as James Howard
- Ken Watanabe as Shinichi Yuasa
- Tom Cruise as Travis Holt
- Jack Black as Hank Lowery
- Milla Jovovich as Queen of Atlantis
- Dwayne Johnson as Raymond Reddick
- Andy Serkis as Dave Lowery
- TJ Storm as Gamera (via motion capture)
- Several extras play the Atlanteans and Humans
- Gyaos is created by CGI
Production[]
After releasing Gamera The Brave in 2006 Kadokawa went with a hiatus with the Gamera franchise. After 2014's Godzilla Universal was interested in a Gamera film. In 2017 they bought the rights. Michael Dougherty was set to direct. Due to him also directing Godzilla: King of the Monsters he left. Matt Reeves was later set to direct. Reeves's script was different from Dougherty's script replacing the main villain from Barugon who appears in the sequel to Gyaos. After casting the cast shooting started. The inital release date was changed numerous times due to Covid-19 and competition with other movies. Eventually it was released on October 8th 2023 to box office success.
Release[]
The film was released at Los Angeles before the rest of the world distributed by Universal with Kadokawa distributing it in Japan.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Gamera grossed 529 million dollars against a 170 million dollars budget. Its opening weekend was the biggest opening weekend for a kaiju movie earning 331 million dollars.
Critical reception[]
Gamera mostly recieved positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval of 79% based on 380 reviews with the rating of 7/10. the consensus reads " Gamera managed to do what Godzilla (1998) couldn't and revived the franchise". On Metacritic the film has a score of 77 out of 100 indicating generally favorable reviews.
Sequels[]
The film's success inspired Universal to make a quadrilogy of Gamera films. The first sequel Gamera Returns was released in June 2nd 2024. The 3rd film Gamera Invasion was released in August 1st 2025 and the final film Gamera Forever was released in January 5th 2026.
Trivia[]
- The film references the Showa and Heisei series. Gamera is awakened in the Arctic as a reference to the first ever Gamera movie. Gamera and Gyaos being made by Atlantis, Gamera shooting fireballs and he being dubbed the guardian of the universe are a reference to the Gamera Heisei trilogy
- Matt Reeves later dropped out so he can focus on his "The Batman Shared Universe"
- Most of the cast and crew were involved in the MonsterVerse.
- Gyaos is jokingly dubbed by the crew "High Rodan" due to his resemblance to Rodan.
- Ken Watanabe's character is named after the director of the first Gamera and several other movies Noriaki Yuasa. This is a nod to the MonsterVerse where Watanabe's character Ishiro Serizawa is named after Ishiro Honda.