Editing Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (section)

==Production==
[[File:GvKG - behind scenes.jpg|thumb|Preparations for the first fight scene]]

===Conception===
Although the previously filmed ''[[Godzilla vs. Biollante]]'' had been the most expensive ''Godzilla'' film produced at the time, its low audience attendance and loss of revenue convinced executive producer and ''Godzilla'' series creator [[Tomoyuki Tanaka]] to revitalize the series by bringing back iconic monsters from pre-1984 ''Godzilla'' movies, specifically Godzilla's archenemy [[King Ghidorah]].<ref name="Ryfle"/>

''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' director and writer [[Kazuki Ōmori]] had initially hoped to start a standalone series centered on [[Mothra]], and was in the process of rewriting a 1990 script for the unrealized film ''Mothra vs. Bagan''. The film was ultimately scrapped by Toho, under the assumption that, unlike Godzilla, Mothra would have been a difficult character to market overseas. The planning stages for a sequel to ''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' were initially hampered by Tanaka's deteriorating health, thus prompting the takeover of [[Shōgo Tomiyama]] as producer. The new producer felt that the financial failure of ''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' was due to the plot being too sophisticated for child audiences, and thus intended to return some of the fantasy elements of the pre-1984 ''Godzilla'' films to the series. Ōmori himself blamed the lackluster performance of ''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' on competition with ''[[Back to the Future Part II]]'', and thus concluded that audiences wanted plots involving time travel.<ref name="Kalat"/> His approach to the film also differed from ''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' in his greater emphasis on developing the personalities of the monsters rather than the human characters.<ref name="Wong">{{cite book|last1=Wong|first1=Kin Yuen|title=World Weavers: Globalization, Science Fiction, and the Cybernetic Revolution|date=2005|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|location=Hong Kong|isbn=9789622097216|page=182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWnqAQAAQBAJ&q=godzilla+ghidorah&pg=PA182|access-date=29 November 2015}}</ref>

[[Akira Ifukube]] agreed to compose the film's score on the insistence of his daughter, although he had been dissatisfied with the way his compositions had been treated in ''Godzilla vs. Biollante''.{{sfn|Ryfle|1998|p=315}}

===Special effects===
[[File:KIDS prop model right front view at Akashi City Museum of Culture July 29, 2018.jpg|thumb|A prop of the time machine KIDS on display at Akashi City Museum of Culture]]
The Godzilla suits used in ''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' were reused in ''Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah'', though with slight modifications. The original suit used for land-based and full body shots had its head replaced with a wider and flatter one, and the body cut in half. The upper half was used in scenes where Godzilla emerges from the sea and during close-ups during the character's first fight with King Ghidorah. The suit used previously for scenes set at sea was modified with rounder shoulders, a more prominent chest, and an enhanced face, and was used throughout the majority of the film's Godzilla scenes.<ref>Robert Biondi, "The Evolution of Godzilla – G-Suit Variations Throughout the Monster King’s Twenty One Films", ''G-FAN'' #16 (July/August 1995)</ref>

The redesigned King Ghidorah featured much more advanced wirework puppetry than its predecessors, and effects team leader [[Koichi Kawakita]] designed the "Godzillasaurus" as a more paleontologically accurate-looking dinosaur than Godzilla itself as a nod to American filmmakers aspiring to direct their own ''Godzilla'' films with the intention of making the monster more realistic.<ref name="Kalat"/> Ōmori's original draft specified that the dinosaur that would become Godzilla was a ''[[Tyrannosaurus]]'', though this was rejected by creature designer Shinji Nishikawa, who stated that he "couldn't accept that a tyrannosaur could become Godzilla". The final suit combined features of ''Tyrannosaurus'' with Godzilla, and real [[octopus]] blood was used during the bombardment scene. Because the Godzillasaurus' arms were much smaller than Godzilla's, suit performer [[Wataru Fukuda]] had to operate them with levers within the costume. The creature's distress calls were recycled [[Gamera]] cries.<ref name="Wong"/>