Anne Hathaway’s not-Godzilla movie avoids lawsuit from actual Godzilla people

By Sam Barsanti | November 1, 2015 | 7:54pm

Aux Features Film

Like a frightened citizen of Tokyo who luckily had enough time to look up and point at an approaching kaiju, the Anne Hathaway-starring monster movie Colossal has managed to avoid being sued out of existence by Toho, the company that owns the rights to Godzilla. This legal situation popped up back in May, when Toho found out that director Nacho Vigalondo was pitching Colossal to prospective distributors and investors with actual pictures from Godzilla movies, the line “Tokyo is under attack by Godzilla and a giant robot,” and an especially damning interview in which Vigalondo referred to the film as “the cheapest Godzilla movie ever” and “a serious Godzilla movie.” Apparently, the people who actually make Godzilla movies don’t like it when other people say they’re making Godzilla movies.

Now, though, The Hollywood Reporter says Toho and Voltage Pictures (the studio behind Colossal) have reached a settlement. THR says that the film’s producer will now make it explicitly clear that Colossal is not a remake of Godzilla. To accomplish that, the film will probably be marketed now with lines like: “Tokyo is under attack by a legally distinct lizard monster and a giant robot. Any similarities between this lizard monster and any other lizard monsters—both real or fictional and living or dead—is purely coincidental. The robot is also a totally new thing, if you were curious.”