Japanese megamonster Godzilla is celebrating his 60th birthday with the nationwide rollout — beginning April 18 at Film Forum in Manhattan — of a new digital restoration of the original 1954 Japanese version, which is called “Gojira” in Japan. Here are some of the memorable (and not-so-memorable) iterations of the big guy over the decades:
‘Godzilla Raids Again’ (1955)
The first of 27 sequels produced by Japan’s Toho studios was retitled “Gigantis the Fire Monster” — after the first of Godzilla’s many giant foes — when it finally arrived in the US in 1959.
‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters’ (1956)
This American version of “Gojira” edited out the original’s suggestion that US atomic tests were responsible for the monster and added newly shot scenes of a pre-“Perry Mason” Raymond Burr as a reporter named . . . Steve Martin.
‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ (1962)
King Kong visited Japan for his first screen adventure since toppling off the Empire State Building in 1933, and guess whom he had a rumble with? A dubbed version hit America in 1963, and is newly arrived on Blu-ray.
‘Mothra vs. Godzilla’ (1964)
The giant moth gets top billing over poor Godzilla as Toho continues rolling out a series of multi-monster mashups. On Blu-ray May 6.
‘Ghidorah (Ghidrah) the Three-Headed Monster’ (1964)
Godzilla joins forces with flying foes Rodan and Mothra to save Tokyo from an even nastier monster. On Blu-ray (as “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah”) May 6.
‘Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla’ (1974)
The 14th installment of the saga hilariously pits the big guy against a mechanical version of himself. This is the only Godzilla movie to play on American network TV — albeit cut for a one-hour time slot, hosted by John Belushi in a Godzilla suit.
‘The Return of Godzilla’ (1984)
After a nine-year layoff and still played by a man in a rubber suit, he returns for a 20th-anniversary reboot that was dubbed and retitled “Godzilla 1985″ in the United States — complete with intentionally campy new footage of Raymond Burr reprising his role as “Steve Martin.”
‘Godzilla’ (1998)
The big guy finally makes it to Manhattan courtesy of “Independence Day” director Roland Emmerich. Though this CGI blockbuster starring Matthew Broderick grossed a more-than-respectable $379 million worldwide, the reviews were so universally scathing that Sony abandoned planned sequels and instead imported a dubbed version of Toho’s “Godzilla 2000 (Millennium).”
‘Godzilla’ (2014)
Ten years after Toho retired its series with “Godzilla: Final Wars” (which went straight to DVD in the US), Warner Bros. is re-re-rebooting the AARP-ready monster for a big-budget, multinational version with Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and Juliette Binoche. It hits theaters May 16.