Rebirth of Mothra III

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Okihiro Yoneda directs. Yoshinori Sekiguchi behind the camera. Toshiyuki Watanabe scores. Nobuo Ogawa cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 128 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.
• 3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 4Directed by Okihiro Yoneda, shot by Yoshinori Sekiguchi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Toshiyuki Watanabe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Nobuo Ogawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Megumi Kobayashi and Misato Tate and Aki Hano carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "The strongest enemy, the final transformation.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0189764 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Only 37 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 11Classified under 16 themes, including "monster", "giant monster", "time travel", "giant insect".
• 12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Original score

Toshiyuki Watanabe

Editing

Nobuo Ogawa

Runtime

99 min · 1h 39m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

JA

IMDB

Rebirth of Mothra III (1998) ↗

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
• 
  Rebirth of Mothra II

  1997
• 
  Rebirth of Mothra III

  1998 · this one

Also by

Okihiro Yoneda

• 
  Rebirth of Mothra

  1996 · ★ 6.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  【HD】モスラ3 キングギドラ来襲 予告編

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Toho Pictures

  JP

Key crew

• EditorNobuo Ogawa
• Executive ProducerShogo Tomiyama
• First Assistant DirectorMasaaki Tezuka
• Special EffectsKenji Suzuki
• Visual EffectsKenji Suzuki
• Visual Effects DirectorKenji Suzuki
• Special EffectsAkira Kato
• Special Effects AssistantAkira Kato
• Visual EffectsAkira Kato
• Visual Effects DirectorAkira Kato
• Associate ProducerRitsuko Suzuki
• Producer's AssistantMakoto Horiguchi
• Associate ProducerHiroaki Kitayama

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• monster
• giant monster
• time travel
• giant insect
• sequel
• dragon
• creature
• moth
• creature feature
• miniature people
• shobijin
• kaiju
• ghidora
• king ghidorah
• mothra
• tokusatsu

Release history · US

When it landed

• Physical2014-09-09· Sony Blu-ray (1st US release of RoM3 on home video + w/JP audio, packaged with "Rebirth of Mothra" & "Rebirth of Mothra II").
• TV2003-05-31· Sci-Fi Channel premiere (shown alongside "Rebirth of Mothra" & "Rebirth of Mothra II").

Also known as

International titles

• Mothra 3: King Ghidorah AttacksJP
• Mosura Surī: Kingu Gidora RaishūJP
• Mothra III - King Ghidora kehrt zurückDE
• Mothra III - Desgidorah kehrt zurückDE
• Mothra - Desgidorah kehrt zurückDE
• Mothra 3: O Ataque de King GuidorahBR
• Rebirth of Mothra 3US
• Mothra 3: Invasion of King GhidorahJP
• Mothra III Invasion of KingghidoraJP
• Mothra: King Ghidorah ReturnsDE
• Mothra: King Ghidorah kehrt zurückDE