Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira?), (the films Japanese release title), is a Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho. Directed by Koji Hashimoto, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, the film starred Ken Tanaka, Yasuko Sawaguchi, and Yosuke Natsuki. To avoid confusion with the original Godzilla, the film is commonly called The Return of Godzilla.
The sixteenth film in Toho's Godzilla series, it marked the beginning of a rebooted series of Godzilla films that ignores all the films from 1955's Godzilla Raids Again through 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. The film acts as a direct sequel to the original 1954 film Godzilla. Produced as part of Godzilla's 30th anniversary, the film returned the series to the darker themes and mood of some of the early films and returned Godzilla to his destructive antagonistic roots.
The film was released theatrically in the United States in the Summer of 1985 by New World Pictures as Godzilla 1985. The American version of the film featured Hollywood actor Raymond Burr reprising his character Steve Martin, from the film Godzilla, King of the Monsters!.
