Criterion will release a spine number 1000 limited run in October called Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, a Blu-ray collector’s set will gather all fifteen Godzilla films from Japan’s Showa era between 1954 and 1975 for the first time across eight discs.
Each film will get a HD digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtracks. Also included is an HD transfer of 1956’s “Godzilla, King of the Monsters (the U.S. release version ), and the Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962.
There’s also audio commentaries from 2011 on Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters featuring film historian David Kalat, international English-language dub tracks for six of the films, a Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Ishiro Honda from 1990, a new interview with filmmaker, an interview with critic Tadao Sato from 2011, along with new and archival interviews with cast and crew members, new English subtitle translations, a 2011 illustrated audio essay and more.
All that will come in a lavishly illustrated giant deluxe hardcover book featuring an essay by cinema historian Steve Ryfle, notes on the films by cinema historian Ed Godziszewski, and new illustrations.