Editing Godzilla vs. Mothra (section)

===Development===
The idea of a film featuring a revamped [[Mothra]] dated back to a screenplay written in 1990 by Kazuki Omori entitled ''Mothra vs. Bagan'', which revolved around a vengeful dragon called Bagan who sought to destroy humanity for its abuse of the Earth's resources, only to be defeated by Mothra, the goddess of peace. However, following the poor box office performance of ''[[Godzilla vs. Biollante]]'', the project was ultimately scrapped by Toho, under the assumption that Mothra was a character born purely out of Japanese culture, and thus would have been difficult to market overseas unlike the more internationally recognized [[Godzilla]].<ref name="kalat2010.2">{{cite book|last1=Kalat|first1=David|title=A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series|date=2010|publisher=McFarland & Co.|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-47-49-7|pages=179–183|edition=2nd}}</ref>

After the success of ''[[Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah]]'', producer [[Shōgo Tomiyama]] and ''Godzilla'' series creator [[Tomoyuki Tanaka]] proposed resurrecting [[King Ghidorah]] in a film entitled ''Ghidorah's Counterattack'', but relented when polls demonstrated that Mothra was more popular with women, which makes up a larger percentage of Japan's population compared to men. Tomiyama replaced Ōmori with [[Takao Okawara]] as director, but maintained Ōmori as screenwriter. Hoping to maintain as much of ''Mothra vs. Bagan'' as possible, Ōmori reconceptualized Bagan as Badora, a dark twin to Mothra. The character was later renamed Battra (a [[portmanteau]] of "battle" and "Mothra"), as the first name was disharmonious in Japanese. Tomiyama had intended to feature ''[[Mothra (film)|Mothra]]'' star [[Frankie Sakai]], but was unable to because of scheduling conflicts. The final battle between Godzilla, Mothra and Battra was originally meant to have a more elaborate conclusion; as in the final product, Godzilla would have been transported to sea, only to kill Battra and plunge into the ocean. However, the site of their fall would have been the submerged, [[Stonehenge]]-like ruins of the Cosmos civilization, which would have engulfed and trapped Godzilla with a forcefield activated by Mothra.<ref name="kalat2010.1"/>

[[Ishirō Honda]], director of the original ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' film and many others, visited the set shortly before dying.<ref name="kalat2010.1"/>