Rebirth of Mothra

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Okihiro Yoneda directs. Yoshinori Sekiguchi behind the camera. Toshiyuki Watanabe scores. Nobuo Ogawa cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 130 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2Part of the "Rebirth of Mothra Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 3Directed by Okihiro Yoneda, shot by Yoshinori Sekiguchi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Toshiyuki Watanabe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Nobuo Ogawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Megumi Kobayashi and Sayaka Yamaguchi and Aki Hano carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Fight, in order to protect!".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0117089 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 51 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 10Classified under 9 themes, including "self sacrifice", "giant egg", "kaiju", "deforestation".
• 11Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Original score

Toshiyuki Watanabe

Editing

Nobuo Ogawa

Production design

Kyōko Heya

Runtime

104 min · 1h 44m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

JA

IMDB

Rebirth of Mothra (1996) ↗

Part of

Rebirth of Mothra Collection

This is a collection of the 3 Mothra movies released in 1996, 1997 and 1998, which are based on the movie "Mothra vs. Godzilla".

• 
  Rebirth of Mothra

  1996 · this one
• 
  Rebirth of Mothra II

  1997
• 
  Rebirth of Mothra III

  1998

Also by

Okihiro Yoneda

• 
  Rebirth of Mothra III

  1998 · ★ 6.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  【HD】平成モスラシリーズ 予告集

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Toho Pictures

  JP

Key crew

• ProducerHiroaki Kitayama
• Original StoryTomoyuki Tanaka
• Production DesignKyōko Heya
• Executive ProducerShogo Tomiyama
• EditorNobuo Ogawa
• SongsAkiko Yano
• Associate ProducerRitsuko Suzuki
• Assistant DirectorAtsushi Kaneshige
• LyricistShinichi Sekizawa
• Assistant GafferTakahiro Sekino
• Visual EffectsKenji Suzuki
• Assistant GafferKoji Choya
• Assistant GafferHidenobu Tomikawa
• Music ProducerMasao Iwase
• Lighting TechnicianTeruo Osawa
• Sound MixerAkihiko Ono
• Assistant GafferKeiji Kato
• Assistant GafferAtsushi Ogasawara
• First Assistant DirectorKunio Miyoshi
• VocalsSayaka Yamaguchi
• Visual EffectsKoichi Kawakita
• Special EffectsKoichi Kawakita
• LyricistTomoyuki Tanaka
• LyricistIshirō Honda

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• self sacrifice
• giant egg
• kaiju
• deforestation
• ghidora
• king ghidorah
• mothra
• environmental crisis
• tokusatsu

Release history · US

When it landed

• Physical1999-08-03· Columbia-Tristar Home Video VHS
• Physical2000-02-01· Columbia-Tristar Home Video DVD (packaged with "Rebirth of Mothra II").
• Physical2014-09-09· Sony Blu-ray (1st US release of RoM w/JP audio, packaged with "Rebirth of Mothra II" & "Rebirth of Mothra III").
• TV2003-05-31· Sci-Fi Channel premiere (shown alongside "Rebirth of Mothra II" & "Rebirth of Mothra III").

Also known as

International titles

• MothraJP
• Renascimento de MothraBR
• Rebirth of Mothra 1US
• Mothra: The Queen of MonstersJP
• MosuraJP
• Rebirth of Mothra IUS
• Mothra: The Seal of the EliasDE
• Mothra: Das Siegel der EliasDE
• Mothra's RebirthSE
• Mothras återfödelseSE
• Mothra - Das Siegel der EliasDE