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About

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a 2019 American monster film about fictional giant monster Godzilla. Following the release, the film garnered generally negative critic reviews and very positive user reviews, which has been the subject of memes and discussions on Twitter, Reddit and other platforms.

History

On May 18th, 2014, a sequel for 2014 giant monster film Godzilla was announced by Legendary Pictures.[1] On July 21st, 2018, the first trailer for the film was released, premiering online on the same day (shown below, left).[2] On December 9th, 2018, the second trailer for the film was released, with the final trailer premiering on April 23rd, 2019 (shown below, right).[3]

On May 31st, 2019, Godzilla: King of the Monsters premiered in the United States,[4] becoming the third installment in Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse.

#GodzillaForGeorge

On March 6th, 2019, roughly two months before the release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the 2019 Godzilla film, the Transit Drive-In Facebook [5] page posted about a campaign to allow a terminally ill Godzilla fan to see the film before he died. The campaign, which was started by the New York drive-in movie theater, the Transit Drive-In, aimed to reach the film's producers before George Root III died of stage 4 cancer. The post received more than 820 reactions, 130 comments and 500 shares in two days (shown below).

Transit Drive-In March 6 at 7:38 AM S I have a close friend who has been fighting kidney cancer for the past two years. He was just admitted into the ICU at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo over the weekend. I went to see him on Monday and Tuesday this week, and both times the first words out of his mouth to me were, "King of Monsters." George is a huge Godzilla: King of the Monsters fan, and he knows his time is short, and he will not be around when the movie is released in May. He knows I own the drive-in, so he is asking me if there is anything I can do. I promised him I would try. This is his dying wish, and he does not have much time left. George is on oxygen, since the cancer has spread to his lungs, and is inoperable. He only has a few days left, maybe a week or two. I know this effort is a longshot, and I told him that since the movie is still three months away, the studio may be unwilling or unable to show an unfinished product. The North Park Theatre on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo is close to Roswell Park, and has agreed to screen the movie for George privately during their off hours, if we can get permission from the studio. I am not a big shot in the movie business, but I know some people who know some people, so l've taken steps to get the request to the right eyes and ears of people at the distributor, Warner Bros. Pictures, and the producers, Legendary Pictures. George would like to hear Godzilla roar one more time before he is gone. Let's try to make that happen.

That day, Buffalo News[6] published an article about the campaign. Twitter[7] user @SlimerJoel tagged several of Godzilla: King of the Monsters producers and the caption, "Let’s do this." Additionally, they included the hashtag "#GodzillaForGeorge." The post received more than 160 retweets and 350 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Throughout the day, others shared their support for the campaign (shown below, center).

Let's do this, @Mike_Dougherty @Legendary @OsheaJacksonJr @TohoKingdom #GodzilaForGeorge Dying Fan's Last Wish Is To See Godzilla: King of the Monsters Early Terminally ill cancer patient wants to see Godzilla. cosmicbook.news 1:21 PM -6 Mar 2019
All George Root lIl wants is to see the new Godzilla movie before he dies. He likely won't make it. . . Unless he gets an advance screening ahead of the film's official May release. Rick Cohen is asking director @Mike_Dougherty to make it happen LAKE ΩΝΤΑ 0R Godzilla before I die: Drive-in owner hopes to grant fan's last wish A devoted Godzilla fan since childhood, George Root IlI has been waiting to see buffalonews.com 8:56 PM -6 Mar 2019
It's too late. George's wife just announced on his Facebook that the lovable fellow passed away this morning. Kudos to Rick Cohen, @TheBuffaloNews, @allwnynews, and everyone on social media for giving it the college try to have George see the film. RIP, George. #GodzilaForGeorge Samantha Christmann @DiscountDivaSam All George Root Il wants is to see the new Godzilla movie before he dies. He likely won't make it... Unless he gets an advance screening ahead of the film's official May release. Rick Cohen is asking director @Mike_Dougherty to make it happen buffalonews.com/2019/03/06/god... 8:40 AM-7 Mar 2019

The following day, it was reported that Root had died. Twitter user @bobconfer wrote,[8] "It's too late. George's wife just announced on his Facebook that the lovable fellow passed away this morning. Kudos to Rick Cohen, @TheBuffaloNews, @allwnynews, and everyone on social media for giving it the college try to have George see the film. RIP, George. #GodzillaForGeorge" (shown below, right).

Several media outlets covered the story, including Uproxx,[9] CosmicBook.com[10] and more.

Reception

The film received generally negative critic reviews, maintaining an aggregated rating of 39 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of June 3rd, 2019, with 238 reviews.[11] The critic consensus read "Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivers spectacular kaiju action -- and reaffirms that cutting-edge effects are still no substitute for a good story". On Metacritic, the film maintained a 48 percent critic rating with 44 reviews as of June 3rd.[12]

At the same time, the film received very positive user reviews, maintaining an aggregated rating 86 percent based on over 10,300 reviews submitted as of June 3rd, 2019.[11] On Metacritic, the film maintained a 7.9 user score as of June 3rd.[12]

Critics vs. Audience

The large discrepancy between user and critic reviews of the film prompted the appearance of memes highlighting the issue online. In many examples, film journalists were criticized for being detached from general film audiences, while the film was praised for focusing on its action and visuals instead of the plot.

On May 24th, 2019, Twitter user @mombot posted a tweet writing that critic complains about too much emphasis on monster fights in the film were an indicator that the film is good (shown below, left).[13] The tweet gained over 2,300 retweets and 8,400 likes in ten days. On the same day, Twitter user @Mugsysam compared the critic complaints about 2014 and 2019 Godzilla installments, with the tweet receiving over 100 retweet s and 330 likes in the same period (shown below, right).[14]

Best Mom Eva @mombot Early screenings of Godzilla: King of the Monsters has some critics complaining that it places too much emphasis on the monsters fighting and not enough human drama So it's good 10:05 PM - 24 May 2019
Karen Catizone @Mugsysam I wish this was an actual joke, but it's not. Critics 2014: "gOdZiLIA wAs ONIY in gOdZiLIA 2014 fOr 10 mInS!!" Same Critics 2019: "tOo mUcH tlmE wAs dEvOtEd tO tHe mOnStErS iN a mOnStEr mOvle!!" #GodzillaKingOfThe Monsters #Godzilla2 #GodzillaMovie #Godzilla "TOO MANY MONSTERS NOT ENOUCH DRAMA" "TOO MANY BORING HUMANS NOTENOUGH MONSTERS" GOOZILLA GODZILLA KING MONSTERS MAY 16 ENERS MAY 9:13 PM - 26 May 2019

In the following days, more memes and humorous posts highlighting the discrepancy were posted online on Twitter and Reddit (examples shown below).[15][16][17]

SEGENDARY don't like monster fights! LEGENDÁRY Then why did you ask for it?
Is it a good Godzilla movie? you like more monster battles than human drama. Only if MOVIEFANS Yes. That's what a good Godzilla movie means
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS 46% Coming soon Release date: May 31, 2019 Critics Consensus "Too many monster fights, no story" That's.. why i'm here

MR INABBER @iNabberTV Just seen critics are mad at 'Godzilla: King of Monsters' because the film has too many monster fight scenes I mean to be fair, who'd of thought? Monsters fighting eachother in a film about monsters fighting for the title king of monsters? Crazy, can't believe that at all 6:47 AM -29 May 2019
TRAFON @RiseFallNick Critics: Godzilla King of the Monsters isn' that great Fans: VIACOM 0:03 5,657 views
42% TOMATOMETER Total Count: 157 that wasn't very cash money of you

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