SF Godzillafest
Balboa Theater Film Festival
July 17-19, 2026
Godzillafest Film Festival Recap
This year's Godzillafest Film Festival was a tremendous success and an incredibly fun weekend! Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the movies, shop for art and collectibles, and share your Godzilla knowledge, memories, and even a little kaiju gossip!
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Our vendors helped make the weekend something special. Kong's Cave of Collectibles brought an amazing selection of Godzilla and kaiju collectibles. Thomas Johnson returned with his outstanding artwork, while the Bay Area Film Events table offered T-shirts, tote bags, and hats that sold exceptionally well, giving us a nice nest egg to put toward our convention in September. Clark Unitam was back with his popular Godzilla rubber stamp art, and it seemed Mothra was the surprise best-seller of the weekend! We were also thrilled to welcome Sophia Leighton of Monster Island Art to the Film Festival for the first time, featuring a wonderful display of artwork inspired by Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman.
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One of the highlights of the weekend was hearing how people discovered the festival. One couple found out about the event just a few days beforehand after seeing a post on X (formerly Twitter) about G-FEST in Chicago, followed by a reply mentioning Godzillafest in San Francisco. Another couple was visiting all the way from Portugal and staying at the Kabuki Hotel in Japantown. After spotting one of our posters, they hurried over just in time to catch the movies!
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The biggest crowd-pleasers of the weekend were Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) and Godzilla: Final Wars, both of which sold out. We were also thrilled that our screening of Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color even outdrew a showing of The Odyssey!
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Now our focus shifts to the convention in September, but we're already looking forward to bringing the Godzillafest Film Festival back to the Balboa Theater in July 2027.
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Until then, thanks again for making this year's festival such a memorable event. We'll see you at the convention!
SF Godzillafest 2026
Balboa Theater Film Festival
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Friday July 17, 2026
Theater 1
GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (1956): 2:00-3:55pm (English Dub)
70th Anniversary Screening of the Americanized Version Starring Raymond Burr!
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Ishiro Honda's GODZILLA is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s
also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the
country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging
radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a
beloved international icon of destruction, spawning more than thirty sequels.
This 1956 version, codirected and edited by Terry Morse, is the famous American
reworking of the original 1954 production with new material staring Western actors,
including Raymond Burr as reporter Steve Martin.
Friday July 17, 2026
Theater 1
GODZILLA 2000 (1999): 4:30-6:35pm (English Dub)
Michael Schlesinger Memorial Screening. Get ready to crumble! A group called the
Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) is actively tracking Godzilla as he makes landfall.
Besides trying to study the monster, part of their goal is trying to create patterns to
minimize damage. The government, through the Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI)
agency, is attempting a more active role through the development of weapons such as
the Full Metal Missile Launchers.
Matters become complicated, though, as CCI is also examining a giant meteor that is
discovered in the Ibaragi Prefecture. The mysterious rock mass begins to levitate on its
own and eventually pursues Godzilla. Confronting the King of the Monsters, who blasts
apart the rock with its heat ray to reveal an alien ship beneath, a new alien species is
uncovered. The extraterrestrials then begin seeking intelligence from Tokyo's
technology and something from within Godzilla's cells...
This special screening of GODZILLA 2000 is held in memory of Michael Schlesinger
(1950-2025), the producer who supervised the American edit and English dubbing for
the film.
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Friday July 17, 2026
Theater 1
EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP (aka GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER, 1966):
7:00-8:45pm (In Japanese With English Subtitles)
60th Anniversary Screening! The first Godzilla film directed by Jun Fukuda, who
would go on to direct four more, is fast-paced and light in tone, and builds to a riveting
race-against-time finale.
On a secluded island in the South Seas, a group of castaways stumble upon a
paramilitary organization whose nefarious nuclear activities threaten the world at
large— and set the stage for kaiju clashes involving Godzilla, Mothra, and the giant
crustacean Ebirah.
Friday July 17, 2026
Theater 2
GODZILLA 1985 (1985): 2:30-4:15pm (English Dub)
Rare Screening of the Americanized Version Starring Raymond Burr! Thirty years
after the original GODZILLA and nine years after the final Showa-era film, the King of
the Monsters was resurrected with this impressive reboot, which successfully
inaugurated a new era in the franchise’s history. Ignoring the storyline established
across the Showa-era films except for the first one, this film reestablished the iconic
kaiju as a force of fierce destruction. Godzilla wreaks destruction on Japan and along
the way inflames tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening
to bring the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Friday July 17, 2026
Theater 2
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GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964): 5:00-6:50pm (In Japanese
With English Subtitles)
After laying waste to an alien civilization on Venus, the three-headed, lightning-emitting
space monster Ghidorah brings its insatiable thirst for destruction to Earth, where fierce
foes Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra must join forces in order to deal with the
unprecedented threat.
An electrifying screen debut for Godzilla’s archenemy King Ghidorah, this film also
marks a turning point for the series, as the first time the King of the Monsters acts to
protect the planet.
Saturday July 18, 2026
Theater 1
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GODZILLA VS MEGALON (1973): 11:00am-12:45pm (English Dub)
Nuclear testing unleashes mayhem on the undersea kingdom of Seatopia, causing a
series of environmental disasters that nearly wipes out the underground kindom of
Seatopia. To exact revenge, Seatopia unleashes Megalon, a gigantic beetle with the
ability to fire ray beams and napalm bombs.
Meanwhile, scientist Goro Ibuki creates Jet Jaguar, a flying robot with a built-in moral
compass. After Jet Jaguar turns to Godzilla for help, Seatopia brings the space cyborg
Gigan to Earth. The tag team matchup of Godzilla and Jet Jaguar versus Megalon and
Gigan will decide the world’s fate.
Actor Katsuhiko Sasaki, who plays Jet Jaguar inventor Goro Ibuki in GODZILLA VS
MEGALON, will be a guest at the Godzillafest convention this September!
Saturday July 18, 2026
Theater 1
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GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (1974): 1:00-3:05pm (English Dub)
Godzilla’s evil twin Mechagodzilla first reared its head in this Jun Fukuda–directed film.
A robot designed by aliens to conquer Earth, the enduringly popular villain has since
been resurrected by Toho Studios several times, tangled with both Godzilla and Kong in
the Monsterverse, and even in popped up in Steven Spielberg's READY PLAYER ONE.
With the help of earnest direction, spectacular pyrotechnics, and guest appearances by
veteran genre actors, this film recaptures the feel of the sixties Godzilla movies.
Saturday July 18, 2026
Theater 1
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TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975): 3:30-5:10pm (In Japanese With English
Subtitles)
In Godzilla’s final entry of the Showa era, aliens retrieve Mechagodzilla’s remains and
rebuild it with the aid of an unhinged biologist (GODZILLA's Akihiko Hirata), in hopes of
defeating Godzilla for possession of planet Earth. This film marked the return of director
Ishiro Honda, who steers the King of the Monsters back into grim territory, interweaving
an alien-invasion plot with a tale of tragic romance.
Actor Katsuhiko Sasaki, who plays the lead role of Akira Ichinose in TERROR OF
MECHAGODZILLA, will be a guest at the Godzillafest convention this September!
Saturday July 18, 2026
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Theater 1
GODZILLA TOKYO SOS (2003): 5:00-6:50pm (In Japanese With English Subtitles)
A year after the battle between Godzilla and Kiryu (aka Mechagodzilla), Japan is
completing repairs on the damaged mech. Meanwhile, Mothra's Shobijin visit an old
acquaintance, Doctor Shinichi Chujo (Hiroshi Koizumi, MOTHRA, MOTHRA VS
GODZILLA), to warn that the dead should not be disturbed and the bones of the original
Godzilla, which were used to construct Kiryu, should be returned to the sea. The
message comes with a ray of hope: that Mothra will fight Godzilla on Japan's behalf if
the request is met. However, if Japan ignores the request, then Mothra will once again
become an enemy of humanity. Japan's government agrees that Kiryu's creation raises
a moral question. They refuse to decommission it, though, feeling that it is the last hope
against Godzilla.
Then Japan realizes Godzilla's arrival is imminent, raising into question who will fight
who should Kiryu and then Mothra arrive…
Saturday July 18, 2026
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Theater 1
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GODZILLA MINUS ONE/MINUS COLOR (2023/2024): 8:00-10:20pm (In Japanese
With English Subtitles)
Catch Takashi Yamazaki's Oscar-Winning Hit On The Big Screen One More
Time Before GODZILLA MINUS ZERO Opens This November! After failing to carry
out his suicide mission, disgraced kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima returns to ravaged
postwar Japan to find his parents dead and country destroyed. Having lost both his
honor and his family, he must try to slowly rebuild alongside the thousands orphaned by
the Tokyo air raids —including a woman named Noriko and her adopted child, whom he
invites into the ramshackle remains of his home. But as these struggling survivors begin
to reclaim a semblance of stability, a new and unprecedented threat appears on the
horizon — a rampaging, colossal creature from the deep that their defeated nation
cannot defend against. With no hope of aid from the occupying forces, can a ragtag
militia of misfits band together to thwart this titanic terror? This international smash won
the Academy Award for Best Special Effects.
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MINUS ONE/MINUS COLOR, the monochrome film version of GODZILLA MINUS ONE,
was created to recapture the look and feel of the original GODZILLA. Experience even
more horror in black and white!
Saturday July 18, 2026
Theater 2
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DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968): 10:00-11:45am (English Dub)
The original Godzilla team of director Ishiro Honda, special-effects supervisor Eiji
Tsuburaya, and composer Akira Ifukube reunited for this kaiju extravaganza, which
features no fewer than eleven monsters.
Set in the remote future of 1999, when the people of Earth have achieved world peace
by confining destructive creatures to Monsterland (until an alien race intervenes),
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS mounts a thrilling display of innovative action sequences
and memorable images that have made it a favorite for generations of viewers.
Saturday July 18, 2026
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Theater 2
ALL MONSTERS ATTACK (aka GODZILLA'S REVENGE, 1969): 12:15-1:40pm
(English Dub)
Director Ishiro Honda returned again for the first Godzilla movie expressly for children.
Economizing by reusing effects shots from other films in the series, ALL MONSTERS
ATTACK tells the story of Ichiro, a lonely latchkey kid who finds solace in his dreams of
befriending Minilla, the titular progeny of SON OF GODZILLA, whose parent is also
often absent. In this thoughtful, human-scale story, boy and monster learn together what
it means to grow up.
Saturday July 18, 2026
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Theater 2
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THE HOST (2006): 2:00-4:15pm (In Korean With English Subtitles)
20th Anniversary Screening! Careless American military personnel dump chemicals
into South Korea's Han River. Several years later, a creature emerges from the tainted
waters and sinks its ravenous jaws into local residents. When the creature abducts his
daughter (Go Ah-sung), a bumbling vendor (Song Kang-ho) and his dysfunctional family
decide that they are the only ones who can save her.
Written and directed by internationally acclaimed, Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-
ho (PARASITE, SNOWPIERCER), THE HOST was inspired by the director's love for
Godzilla and other movie monsters... and something he had witnessed first-hand in
1987: “When I was in high school, I lived in in an apartment complex near Chamshil and
could see the intersection of Chamshil Bridge from my room’s window. I was just a
young man, so I’d often blankly stare from my window for a few moments. One day, I
saw a strange black moving object climb one of the bridge’s pillars and then fall in the
water; that became the basic idea for this film. That day I promised myself to make a
film about this if I became a director."
Featuring stunning special effects courtesy of a creative partnership between Peter
Jackson's Weta Workshop (KING KONG, THE LORD OF THE RINGS) and San
Francisco’s The Orphanage (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, SIN
CITY), THE HOST is equal parts creature-feature thrill ride, dark comedy and poignant
human drama.
​Saturday July 18, 2026
Theater 2
GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004): 4:30-6:50pm (In Japanese With English Subtitles)
Decades ago, Godzilla battled the flying warship Gotengo until the King of the Monsters
was buried in the ice caps of Antarctica. In the near future, humanity has decided to halt
all wars to battle the hordes of kaiju infesting the planet. This leads to the creation of the
Earth Defense Force (EDF). The group builds giant warships and uses a team of
genetically altered humanoid mutants to battle the kaiju. While they have some success,
soon monsters emerge all over the world at the same time. Rodan, Anguirus, King
Caesar, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Ebirah, Zilla and Hedorah all appear in different
countries. Their assaults are interrupted as the monsters mysteriously disappear. This is
followed from the appearance of a group of aliens called the Xiliens. They take credit for
dispatching the monsters and reveal that they need Earth's help. The aliens need to
stop Gorath, a giant star on a collision course with Earth. However, not all is what it
seems with the Xiliens in this 50th anniversary Godzilla movie.
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Sunday July 19, 2026
Theater 1
GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972): 11:00am-12:45pm (English Dub)
An alien invasion prompts a tag-team battle between Godzilla and Anguirus, the planet
protectors, and King Ghidorah and the new monster Gigan, a cyborg with scythe-like
claws, an abdominal buzz saw, winglike back fins, and pincerlike mandibles. In this
action-packed film, which veers from the sublime to the ridiculous, the cockroachlike
aliens — disguised as humans — use Gigan and King Ghidorah as weapons of
conquest in their plot to take over a contaminated Earth.
Sunday July 19, 2026
Theater 1
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GODZILLA VS DESTOROYAH (1995): 1:30-3:30pm (In Japanese With English Subtitles)
Godzilla, his body burning, lays siege to Hong Kong. It's discovered that the King of the
Monsters is on the verge of a meltdown. If Godzilla reaches a critical temperature, the
resulting detonation will breach straight to the Earth's core and have a cataclysmic
result.
Meanwhile, studies on a process called Micro Oxygen, a possible solution to help with
food shortages, unleash strange crustacean-like creatures that can merge and grow into
a giant monster. And this new creature seems to have a connection to the Oxygen
Destroyer itself that killed the original Godzilla in 1954.
Sunday July 19, 2026
Theater 1
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GODZILLA (2014): 4:00-6:30pm
Visionary director Gareth Edwards (STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE, JURASSIC WORLD:
REBIRTH) unleashes the epic action-adventure GODZILLA from Warner Bros. Pictures
and Legendary Pictures, an epic rebirth to Toho’s iconic character. Starring an
international ensemble cast led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Oscar nominee Ken
Watanabe (THE LAST SAMURAI, INCEPTION), Elizabeth Olsen, Oscar winner Juliette
Binoche (THE ENGLISH PATIENT) and Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (BLUE
JASMINE) with Oscar nominee David Strathairn (GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.)
and BREAKING BAD's Bryan Cranston, GODZILLA is a powerful story of human
courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature -- when the awe-
inspiring creature rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless. This
spectacular adventure pits the world's most famous monster against malevolent
creatures that, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.
Actor TJ Storm, the motion capture performer for Godzilla in GODZILLA (2014) and its
sequel GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019), will be a guest at the
Godzillafest convention this September!
Sunday July 19, 2026
Theater 1
SHIN GODZILLA: ORTHOchromatic (2016/2023): 7:00-9:15pm (In Japanese With
English Subtitles)
10th Anniversary Screening! Something has surfaced in Tokyo Bay. As the Prime
Minister of Japan pleads with the public to remain calm, a horrific creature of
tremendous size makes landfall in the city, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Then it evolves. The government assembles a motley task force to combat the monster
when an envoy from the US Department of State delivers a folder of classified
documents. On its cover is written “GODZILLA.”
In SHIN GODZILLA: ORTHOchromatic, directors Hideaki Anno (NEON GENESIS
EVANGELION Franchise, LOVE's POP) and Shinji Higuchi's (BULLET TRAIN
EXPLOSION, SHIN ULTRAMAN) 2016 masterpiece is reborn in stunning black and
white. Released in Japan in 2023 in the leadup to Godzilla’s 70th anniversary, this
version adds new dimensions to the film’s visual impact by rendering it in
orthochromatic (“ortho” for short) black-and-white, a type of monochrome inspired by
the texture of traditional orthochromatic film, characterized by starker contrasts and
more pronounced blacks. The results are awe-inspiring and presents SHIN
GODZILLA as never seen before.
Friday July 19, 2026
Theater 2
SON OF GODZILLA (1967): 10:00-11:45am (English Dub)
In director Jun Fukuda’s second Godzilla outing, secret weather-control experiments
create a radioactive storm, and Godzilla must rescue monster hatchling Minilla from the
giant mutant mantises called Kamacuras that result.
Featuring a buoyant score by Masaru Sato and impressive wirework by special-effects
director Sadamasa Arikawa, SON OF GODZILLA is lively, comic, and timely in its
addressing of contemporary anxiety about worldwide food shortages.
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Sunday July 19, 2026
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Theater 2
GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991): 12:00-2:00pm (English Dub)
35th Anniversary Screening! The eighteenth film in the Godzilla franchise puts a time-
traveling twist on the King of the Monsters’ ever-evolving mythology as nefarious actors
from the future go back in time to engineer the rise of the three-headed dragon King
Ghidorah, erase Godzilla from history, and stop Japan’s economic ascent.
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Less serious in tone than the other Heisei-era films that preceded it, this wildly plotted
installment recaptures some of the Showa era silliness and tops things off with a
rousing final battle between Godzilla and the metallic Mecha-King Ghidorah.
Actor Katsuhiko Sasaki, who plays Professor Mazaki in GODZILLA VS KING
GHIDORAH, will be a guest at the Godzillafest convention this September!
Sunday July 19, 2026
Theater 2
GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH (aka GODZILLA VS
MOTHRA, 1992): 2:30-4:30pm (English Dub)
A meteorite collides into the Earth, setting off a chain reaction. This results in strong
currents that unearth Mothra's egg on Infant Island. Due to the damage to the area, an
expedition is sent to assess the island. While there, they find both Mothra's egg and two
small Cosmos, members of an age-old civilization that once lived on Earth.
The Cosmos had constructed a weather device, controlling the climate. This led to the
birth of the Black Mothra: Battra. Mothra defended the Cosmos from Battra, but only a
few Cosmos survived the conflict. Unfortunately, the meteorite has woken Battra in
present time as well. The creature arrives in Japan, causing massive damage before it
vanishes.
Meanwhile on Infant Island, Mothra's egg is being taken back to Japan. The trip is
sidetracked as Godzilla arrives. Sensing the danger, the Mothra larva hatches from the
egg and the two kaiju begin to fight. The pair are interrupted by Battra, though, who
proves to be a formidable match for Godzilla...
Sunday July 19, 2026
Theater 2
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GODZILLA VS SPACEGODZILLA (1994): 5:00-7:00pm (In Japanese With EnglishSubtitles)
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An extraterrestrial being resembling Godzilla is quickly approaching Earth. The aliencreature, dubbed SpaceGodzilla, ends up landing on Birth Island, attacking the childmonster Little Godzilla. It's not long until the King of the Monsters arrives to defend thesmaller Godzilla but is beaten back by the alien creature. SpaceGodzilla then heads offfor Fukuoka, locking in on the city's tower as a power source. Meanwhile, Moguera, anew super mech created by G-Force, is dispatched to deal with the monstersas Godzilla heads toward the Japanese mainland after his extraterrestrial adversary.​
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Balboa Theater Location
3630 Balboa St. San Francisco, CA 94121
