MOTHRA
[MOSURA] [モスラ]
Though technically not part of the massive franchise itself, this 1961 sci-fi classic helmed by the creative team behind the 1954 GODZILLA — director Ishirō Honda, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka and special effects wiz Eiji Tsuburaya — birthed Japan’s second most popular kaiju, the massive moth Mothra who would go on to fight against and alongside the King of the Monsters. A scientific expedition to the irradiated Infant Island discovers the supposedly uninhabited isle is populated by a native tribe — and a pair of six-inch-tall priestesses dubbed the “Shobijin” (played by The Peanuts, the Japanese vocal duo made up of twin sisters Emi and Yumi Itō). When an exploitative entrepreneur kidnaps the twin beauties, the island’s protector deity hatches from a mysterious egg to rescue the girls — and wreaks absolute havoc in its wake. DIR Ishirō Honda; SCR Shin'ichi Sekizawa, from the serialized novel “The Luminous Fairies and Mothra” by Takehiko Fukunaga, Yoshie Hotta and Shin'ichirō Nakamura; PROD Tomoyuki Tanaka. Japan, 1961, color, 101 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, July 19, 2025
Genre: Science Fiction
