Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates to a fictional tale involving a nuclear incident in the South Pacific which causes an abnormal mutation to occur in a reptile. The beast migrates to North America and wreaks havoc on Manhattan. Incorporated in the plot is the character of Dr. Niko Tatopoulos, played by actor Matthew Broderick. Tatopoulos, an American scientist whose work involves the effects of exposed nuclear radiation on species; is recruited by the military to help contain and subdue the creature referred to as "Godzilla". The ensemble cast also features Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, along with French actor Jean Reno in principal supporting roles.

The film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of Centropolis Entertainment and TriStar Pictures. It was commercially distributed by TriStar Pictures theatrically, and by Sony Pictures Entertainment for home media. Godzilla explores nuclear mutation, crisis management and military warfare. Following its wide release in theaters, the film won and was nominated for multiple mainstream awards, including Saturn Award nominations for Best Special Effects, Best Fantasy Film, and Best Director. The film also won the People's Choice Award in the category of Best European Director for Emmerich from the European Film Awards. On May 19, 1998, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released by the Epic Records label. It features songs written by several recording artists including The Wallflowers, Rage Against the Machine, Silverchair, and the Foo Fighters. The film score was composed and orchestrated by musicians David Arnold and Nicholas Dodd.

Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira^?) ( /ɡɒdˈzɪlə/; [ɡodʑiɽa] ( listen)) is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games, novels, comic books, television series, a 1998 American remake and a second American version is in development.

With the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a monster created by nuclear detonations and a metaphor for nuclear weapons in general. As the film series expanded, some stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla as a hero while other plots still portrayed him as a destructive monster; sometimes the lesser of two threats who plays the defender by default but is still a danger to humanity.

Gojira (ゴジラ^?) is a portmanteau of the Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ^?, "gorilla"), and kujira (鯨（クジラ）^?, "whale"), which is fitting because in one planning stage, Godzilla was described as "a cross between a gorilla and a whale", alluding to his size, power and aquatic origin. A popular story is that "Gojira" was actually the nickname of a corpulent stagehand at Toho Studio. The story has not been verified, however, and in the fifty years since the film's original release, no one claiming to be the rumored employee has ever stepped forward and no photographs have ever surfaced. Kimi Honda (the widow of Ishiro Honda) always suspected that the man never existed as she mentioned in a 1998 interview that "the backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories".

These are the top grossing films that were first released in 1998; because they may have made most of their income in a later year, they may not be the top-grossing films for calendar year. The top ten films of 1998 as of January 26, 2006 (U.S. and Canada), January 26, 2006 (UK), and January 26, 2006 (Australia) are as follows:

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As of December 9, 2008, 38 films released in 1998 have grossed more than $100 million. Two films have grossed more than $400 million.

For a complete list of 1998's top-grossing films, follow these links:

Academy Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

U.S.A. unless stated

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