The Great Big List Of Godzilla Films
Chronological order of theatrical releases, both Japanese and American • 40 Movies (And Counting)
Showa Era (1954–1975)
Nuclear testing awakens a giant prehistoric reptile that lays waste to Tokyo. The film that started it all. The American version, released two years later in 1956, changed the title and did some heavy re-edits, including new footage of actor Raymond Burr.
Godzilla returns and battles the spiny dinosaur Anguirus in Osaka, marking the first time Godzilla fights another monster! Titled Gigantis, the Fire Monster for the 1959 American theatrical release, where it ran alongside Teenagers from Outer Space.
Godzilla meets Kong for the first time in an epic, campy battle for supremacy. Godzilla also temporarily becomes a vegetarian.
The giant moth Mothra defends her island from an invading Godzilla.
Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra unite against the three-headed space dragon King Ghidorah.
Godzilla and Rodan are taken to Planet X to fight King Ghidorah.
Godzilla battles the giant lobster Ebirah on a remote island.
Godzilla protects his young son Minilla from threats on an island.
All of Earth's monsters are unleashed in one final battle against alien invaders.
A young boy dreams of Godzilla's adventures. In 1971, it received an American theatrical release under the name Godzilla's Revenge alongside 1967's scifi/horror Night of the Big Heat.
Godzilla battles the pollution-born smog monster Hedorah.
Godzilla and Anguirus fight Gigan and King Ghidorah.
Godzilla teams up with Jet Jaguar against Megalon and Gigan.
Godzilla faces his robotic counterpart built by aliens.
Mechagodzilla returns, this time allied with Titanosaurus.
Heisei Era (1984–1995)
Godzilla is revived after nearly a decade, with this film serving as a reboot and a sequel to the original 1954 Gojira. In the U.S., the film was re-edited and titled Godzilla 1985, and again featured Raymond Burr.
Godzilla battles a genetically engineered plant-monster hybrid.
Time travel changes history in an attempt to defeat King Ghidorah.
Godzilla faces Mothra and Battra in a battle for the Earth.
Humanity deploys a new Mechagodzilla against Godzilla.
Godzilla confronts his cosmic clone born from his own cells.
Godzilla begins to melt down while fighting the oxygen destroyer spawn Destoroyah.
Uhh (1998)
The American reimagining of the King of the Monsters, brought to you by TriStar.
Millennium Era (1999–2004)
The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) studies and follows Godzilla like he's a tornado, attempting to predict landfalls and prevent destruction. Meanwhile, Godzilla battles the mysterious alien Orga.
Godzilla faces a giant prehistoric dragonfly.
The guardian monsters rise to stop Godzilla.
Japan deploys Kiryu, a Mechagodzilla powered by Godzilla's own bones.
Kiryu returns as Mothra demands the bones of Godzilla be returned.
Godzilla battles an army of monsters in one final, all-out kaiju war. Special guest appearance by 1998's Zilla.
Modern Era (2014–Present)
Legendary's MonsterVerse begins with America's first attempt at a Godzilla movie since 1998. Godzilla faces off against the MUTOs.
A bureaucratic modern retelling of Godzilla's rampage through Tokyo.
Humanity, driven to near-extinction by monster attacks and exiled from Earth, return to their home planet 20,000 years later to settle the score.
Humanity creates a city-sized trap in an attempt to hinder Godzilla Earth.
King Ghidorah is summoned and fights a 300-meter-tall Godzilla.
Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah enter the kaiju ring in this followup to 2014's Godzilla.
The ultimate showdown between the King of the Monsters and the King of Skull Island. Kong visits the Hollow Earth, then eventually battles with Godzilla in a neon-lit Hong Kong.
Post-WWII Japan faces Godzilla as kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima grapples with survivor's guilt.
Godzilla and Kong team up against a new threat from within the Hollow Earth.
TBA
TBA
Notes: This list contains every major Godzilla movie in order. Technically, the Reiwa Era began in 2019, though some lists mark Shin Godzilla as the beginning of the Reiwa Era for Godzilla films. I used "Modern Era" since I mixed American and Japanese Godzillas together, with the latest crop of films beginning 10 years after Final Wars. Godzilla 1998 exists in this weird space between the Heisei and Millennium Era, so I threw it into its own spot. Also, the anime movies are included in this list just sort of because!