"Saw the 7 pm showing Tuesday night at the Coronet, San Francisco's largest screen. The 1250 capacity theater was about 5/6 full. The audience had a great time with some solid applause as the movie ended. There was also uproar of applause and excitement throughout the showing, usually after Godzilla did some amazing stunt. The effects were incredible. The crowd was also unified in their hatred for Matthew Broderick's girlfriend. A lot of booing each time she escaped death. Looking at the reaction to this showing, unlike Lost World, Godzilla should last a while."

- Luke Caffey (San Francisco, California)

"I saw the 10:30 show at the Sony Lincoln Square Loews (800 seater) Theater in New York City. It looked like it was almost sold out. The audience was very well-behaved. Zorro was the preferred preview. People kept yelling "Where's the lizard!" with each successive preview. Everyone yelled, screamed and pretty much rooted for Godzilla to kick New York's ass. No one was surprised by the fact that the military destroyed more of the city that Godzilla did. The audience was really harsh toward Audrey and loudly applauded Niko's rebuff of her after he was fired. Everyone went crazy when they blew up the Garden but the audience went dead silent when Godzilla came back and tried to wake up his dead babies. There was also dead silence when Godzilla was killed. I was very happy that no one clapped. I thought the film was very good for its type. The old technicolor dye transfer process that they used looked beautiful on the large screen and the creatures looked more solid than usual."

- Lisa Vasta (New York, New York)

"Went to the opening of Godzilla in Hollywood, Florida last night. I went with a group of friends that were all eager to see the film and decided if all the hype was worth it. One of the guys even went and got tickets early to make sure that we got in. Well when we got to the 10:00pm showing it was dead. We were in a theater that could hold about 350 people and it was about a quarter full. Well as it turns out the hype was most definately NOT worth it. From a technical standpoint the creature, I can't even call him Godzilla because it was the T-rex from Jurassic Park, was excellent. That's it. There was no other redeeming feature of the film. The story was non-existent, the characters more so. There were plot holes that you could drive a large atomic mutant lizard through. The atmosphere as we left the film was one of complete and utter disappointment. Everyone in the group hated it and we heard similar reactions from other audience members as they filed out. The film will NOT be able to garnish any repeat business and will fade by the time X-Files arrives on the scene in a month."

- Tom Marga (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

"My girlfriend and I caught the 8:00 pm preview showing last night at the United Artists Galaxy 9 in Dallas, Texas. It was playing on the two big 75 foot monster screen theaters at 7:00 and 8:00 pm, which hold about 550 people each, and a smaller size one at 7:30 for good measure. The 8:00 was about 75% full and considering it was the third showing in an hour I would say the turn out was great. Audience reaction was positive. They laughed at some of the corny humour and were awed by Godzilla and cheered the creature on during the battles. After it was over there was some clapping and talk was good with many conservations about seeing it again. My thoughts: I realize the critics have been tuff on the movie, however, we are not looking for a Titanic style plot and character depth here. It's about Godzilla end of story. Without sounding like a homer I would like to state that I was expecting a let down due to the hype, but this was far from the case. The action was great and the special effects, well, were simply magnificant. My girlfriend was also amazed and frightened throughout the picture. Bottomline: who cares what the critics think, everyones a critic. Let's remember they also bashed Independence Day and both Jurassic Parks for the most part. In a time where the public is exposed to such Sci-Fi garbage as Lost in Space and Species 2, Godzilla was a breath of fresh air and should do well especially with kids and repeat business. In conclusion I encourage moviegoers to spend a few dollars and see Godzilla . It's a blast."

- Daniel (Dallas, Texas)

"In case you haven't seen Godzilla yet, I thought it was definitely the best movie since Titanic, and one of the best movies of all time, or at least one of the best special effects movies of all time (top 10). Its special effects were absolutely stunning, the best I have ever seen. To make a creature so giant be able to move so quickly and still look realistic takes talent. Overall, it was by far in my top 5 as the most enjoyable film of all time, even though it is not #1. The plot and concise character development was just right for a "Godzilla " type of movie when all you really want to see is Godzilla ."

- Raj (West Bloomfield, Michigan)

"I went to the 7:30 Godzilla sneak peak at the AMC theatre at the Mall in Merrit Island, Florida. I was quite surprised to find that the theatre was only half full, because my freinds and I got there 2 hours early thinking the lines would be huge. Most everyone in my group liked the movie, with the exception of Kenny (who thought Godzilla looked wrong--he didn't like the creature design), my sister (who thought that it was too long in spots) and myself. I was expecting quite a lot more from the movie, and plus the good guys came off looking bad in the end because of their treatment of Godzilla . There was good action, but it was stuck between plot points that went nowhere. It was a good movie, but it's not a blockbuster."

- Matt Payne (Satellite Beach, Florida)

"Well, I just saw Gojir.....er, Godzilla last night at 6:45 at the theater where I work, and people down here in the South apparently aren't too jazzed about sneak previews. Only about 25% of the theater was full, and those that were there were just kind of sitting there munching on popcorn (and I don't think that was awe that was glazing their eyes). Basically, the audience had this collective attitude of "OK, and.....?". I personally loved it, but I thought 'zilla looked a little too much like an iguana and not enough like a guy in a big rubber suit (sorry, my fondness for the old one is showing). The film definitely has its detractors, like the borderline camp and the endless comparisons you'll inevitably make in your mind to Jurassic Park's scenes with the raptors. Some nice little touches do exist, though, like the ID4 alien mounted on the computer monitor in the Garden. And the ending basically sucks and could have been handled better. But then, how much can I expect from the ham-handed director of ID4? (NOTE: this is not to disparage his work, I've loved all his films, but you have to admit he's a bit blunt in getting the point across) If audiences continue to be anything like what I saw at my sneak, then I'm looking for this film to take in an absolutely massive opening-weekend haul ($100 million+), then drop off after people see it once. I can't see this film having the longevity to draw much repeat business; I personally wouldn't pay to see it again (not that I paid for my sneak)."

- Michael Townes (Greenville, South Carolina)

"I saw Godzilla at United Artists in Berkeley at the first showing on Tuesday. The theater was about 80% full. I was looking forward expectantly to the film as the trailers were done extremely well. The opening credits were well-done and the first sequence was competent. From then on the movie became embarrasingly bad. I walked out after about 30 minutes and toyed with the notion of asking the theater for a refund. This was really one of the worst movies in proportion to its hype I have ever seen."

- Dr. Lewis Stiller Franz (Berkeley, California)

"I just got back from a showing of Godzilla in Altamonte Springs. Florida,a suburb of Orlando. This has got to be one of tthe most boring films of the year! There were not enough disaster scenes and the cast was ugly. I love monster,horror disaster films, but this is just one big commercial to buy Godzilla toys. Sure it will make a mint in the first few weeks, but who will remember this in a few years? After the horror of Deep Impact hopefully the summer movies film improve. I will go see Titanic again it is the only good film out now."

- Michael Pitt (Altamonte Springs, Florida)

"I saw it twice, once at 7 and again at 10 (I was writing a review) I loved this movie. I thought the acting was pretty poor, but hey it's a summer movie. Who pays for plots and dialog during the summer? We pay to see things get blown up and that's what we saw in Godzilla . Dean Devlin's trademark of getting right down to business was alive and well. We didn't have the customary 30 minutes for stuff to happen like most blockbusters. You better get there on time because if you come in 5-10 mins late you'll miss some awesome stuff. Both of the showings that I went to were packed but not sold out. I believe it was showing at about 12 theaters in the Puget Sound Area."

- Kamal Larsuel (Seattle, Washington)

"I saw Godzilla on Tues. night, the very first showing, and the thing that surprised me the most was how many screens it was on. 4! I live in a town with only about 90,000 people, and our one main cinema, that has 8 screens, gave half its screens to this movie! (it was, however, about 1/2 full, which is great for a week night...) Quite mind boggling, especially after seeing the film ..... This was one of those movies that was so ridiculous it was funny. It makes you ashamed to be an American. The army and navy caused more damage to NYC than that poor, scared-to-death lizard! I was actually rooting for Godzilla . The new lizard's look really isn't that great, either. He looks like a giant iguana. And the acting by the main character was awful! Matthew Broderick gets soooo annoying with his "Gee-whiz, you guys!" attitude, and that stupid pulling-a-disposable-camera-out-at-the-worst-moment running "joke". He is truly the ultimate nerd. Although, I must say that the supporting actors were great, namely Hank Azaria and Vicki Lewis. I would only recommend seeing this movie if you've got a friend there to laugh with. And if you saw it on Tues., make sure you don't lose that cool, "First Showing" ticket! That was the best part of going! "

- Harper Strom (Albany, Georgia)

"I must say that I was very hyped to see this movie. Just the thought of a giant lizard running around is a cool premise. Let me tell you that I was let down LARGE. This movie is sooooooooo boring. First, since it was opening night I thought the theater would be packed. Yeah right, there were 10 of us in a movie theater. 4 screens were playing Godzilla and not one sold out. I live in Toronto and usually eveything is sold out here on opening night. Ok back to the movie. The effects were absolutely amazing. But the rest of the movie, the script and acting was just crap. I am not exaggerating when I say this but I was dozing off in the movie theater a couple of times. That just goes to show how bad this movie really is. The last 25-30 minutes of the movie were okay, but the rest was just plain bad. It's very predictable, and of course how else would they end the movie, but to have one egg left remaining for Godzilla 2."

- Renzo (Toronto, Ontario)

"Me and my friends went to see Godzilla at 7:00 at the ewards 21 theaters in Irvine, CA . The place was about 80 percent full and was playing on 7 screens one of them in the IMAX . There were lines outside the theater for the showings . It should do pretty good this weekend but will die quick."

- Nick Thiel (Irvine, California)

"I have seen Godzilla on opening night and it ain't pretty. This has to be the biggest crapfest to unreel across the big screen that I can remember. Granted, there are a couple of good scenes and the effects are passable, but overall definitely not worth $7 admission and the 2 hours 18 minutes it sucked out of my life. Overall, not a lot of excitement about the opening in this area. This theatre was showing Godzilla on 3 screens (out of 6). I mentioned to the box office ticket seller that "I thought there'd be more people". He said it has been pretty slow for Godzilla. There were only about 15 people in the theatre when I got there (a total of about 25, counting latecomers). Now, my take on the movie: even forgetting about any sort of coherent plot (as the screenwriters did) since, after all, this is a summer "popcorn" movie and plots are expected to largely take a back seat to the action and effects. However . . . . This film featured some of the dumbest dialogue I have ever heard in a movie. None of the actors seemed particularly suited for their parts. The effects are OK for the most part, but there are several scenes when Godzilla is stomping around where the filmmakers just shake the camera to simulate--badly--the impact of the monster's steps. I've seen better special effects on Saturday Night Live. A couple of scenes were so badly matted it's obviously just actors running in front of a digital shot of Godzilla. It is never adequately explained why Godzilla chooses to travel halfway around the world to New York City after so much is made of him being spawned in the South Pacific. I'm telling everyone I know to tell everyone they know to avoid Godzilla like the pile of crap it is. Maybe word of mouth can, if not stop this movie, at least slow it down considerably. I recommend seeing Deep Impact instead; that movie was pretty good (or at least better than I expected)."

- Malcolm Graham (Randolph, Vermont)

"I attended a 1pm showing of Godzilla and there were less than thirty viewers. I enjoyed the film. Liked it much more than Independence Day. But have to admit ID4 caught my attention with great trailers and presell. The lizard opened with much less hype--but i think it'll benefit from terrific word of mouth. More so certainly than ID4."

- Mark Donovan (Ventura County, California)

"I saw Godzilla on preview night, Tuesday at the Sherman Oaks GCC in CA. The audience wasn't too excited. We all got our little limited edition souvenir, tough. (Whoopee!) Where was the story? Who were those actors? What was up with the Siskel & Ebert thing? How many movies got ripped off to make this? Maybe I missed something. Maybe not! The effects are guaranteed! The spectacle is there. But don't expect great acting or any story worth the time. It's kind a like what Tobe Hooper did with Invaders from Mars. Took a real good yarn from the past and didn't do much with it. See it once just for the hell of it. 170mil is my guess."

- "Golden Globe" (Sherman Oaks, California)

"I went to Godzilla the night it opened which would have been Tuesday May 19th. I guess there were more people than usual there for a Tuesday night but the theater was not even half full. They had the movie playing on 3 screens at the theater and it did not seem like that many people came out to see it. I am sure the movie will do really big business this weekend. Possibly making 100 million from now until Monday. But after that I think that the attendance will die rather quickly. Probably just as quick as Batman & Robin did last summer. Not many of the people watching the movie seemed to like it. I heard a lot of people saying that the movie was not that good at all as they walked out. I could not agree more. The movie was surprisingly boring in many parts. The acting in it was really awful. Even Mathew Brodrick stunk in this movie which really surprised me. The special effects were okay but it was nothing that we have not seen before. I really liked Independence Day, and Lost World and was expecting this movie to be just as good. Boy was I disappointed. And I think that most others will be also. I predict that after the movie makes 100 million in its first weekend it will be lucky to make another 50 to 60 million after that. Its the type of movie that kids ages 8 to 12 will enjoy most and even they may think it stinks. It looks like Armaggedon and The Truman Show will probably be the two biggest moneymakers of the summer. They showed a preview for Doctor Doolittle before the movie and everyone was rolling on the floor laughing. It looks like Eddie Murphy has another hit on his hands."

- Don Gilchrist (Billings, Montana)

"I just saw Godzilla. I was very disappointed. The characters in this movie are so pathetic that it made me cheer for Godzilla the whole time. Afterall, he just wanted to live and he didn't hurt anyone on purpose. Well at least untill the human species started shooting at him. And talk about stealing from other movies. The adult Godzilla looked like a T-Rex, the babies looked like Velociraptors, there is a chase scene through buildings that looks like Star Wars, a swimming Godzilla that looks exactly like a swimming Alien in Alien Resurrection, Godzilla eggs that look like eggs from Alien, and Godzilla footprints that look like T-Rex footprints. Nothing new at all, they even copied the heart beat scene from King Kong! This movie was fun to watch but if I saw it again I'd probably be very bored. OK, enough bashing. I'll say one good thing. This movie has several scenes that are fun to watch. This movie can be very suspenseful when baby Godzillas just miss grabbing people. Out of 5 stars I give it 2 and a half."

- Paul Gangnes (Vancouver, British Columbia)

"Well, I've seen Godzilla three times already and so the general consensus is that it is a pretty good movie. It was better the second time around, but most of the people in the audiences thought it rocked. The crowds were surprisingly smaller than expected, although nearly all sold out but not until the last minute. I saw Godzilla for the third time and again it wasn't sold out or crowded. I'm starting to get a bad feeling that it may not do so well."

- Aaron Jackson (Glendale, Arizona)

"Just saw Godzilla... it's beyond awful! I don't know why everybody says that the special effects are so great. Half of them suck and the last part is a ripoff of Jurassic Park. As a die hard fan of New York City, it's very hard to deceive me with any movie that takes place in the Big Apple. But when I came out of the theater, I wanted to scream out to the people outside not to waste their money on that... film. Plus, have you ever seen such pathetic characters? It did not do justice to real New Yorkers. I wanted to take Matthew Broderick out of the movie and smack him around. It's sad that this is what all the hype was about. They should have put their energies on DEEP IMPACT instead. It would have been worth the buck."

- Nick Emond (Vancouver, British Columbia)

"Godzilla was what I expected. A fun, summer movie with great special effects and bad screenplay. Expect $100 million this weekend with a dropoff of 40% (Lost World and Batman and Robin style). Final gross, $220-250 million. Armaggedon could overtake Godzilla since it's catering to the teenagers by focusing on the relationship between Ben Affleck's and Liv Tyler's characters. Going to be close this summer."

- "Big Dog" (Largo, Florida)

"I saw Godzilla because nothing else seemed interesting. Quick and to the point: The acting is bad, the movie is silly and boring (especially the first half ) but the special effects are good (second half only)! Your kids will enjoy it so take them to see it. If you don't have kids, I recommend a final viewing of Titanic while it's still on the big screen (if you can find a theatre still showing it). Next important film will be Carrey's Truman. Looks odd enough to be an enjoyable movie without Jim having to act goofy all the time!! (By the way, I still think Cable Guy is an entertaining and well acted film)."

- Hope McCartney (Los Angeles, California)

"I saw Godzilla, and I wish I hadn't seen it. The theater was dead; like I said before I easily strolled up to the ticket booth, got a ticket, and found a good seat (right near the front). And boy oh, BOY did the movie stink! And many people seem to agree with me on this. This movie will be dead in the water within a week. The movie is flaw city, story wise and action wise. And the sound was lousy, too."

- Jason Whyte (Victoria, British Columbia)

"Godzilla was like the biggest thing of the year for me. I love the guy. I couldn't wait to see his re-vamped '90s look. And I really couldn't wait to see him stomp a few dozen buildings. I wasn't disappointed. This is no Independence Day (my favorite movie) , and doesn't have the otherworldly worldwide feeling of doom that gave that movie so much power, but it's got some of the best action scenes you've ever seen. Nowadays you get so many movies where the best parts are over halfway. When the navy supposedly kicked the big guy's butt, I feared the worst. When he came back, I was like "Praise the Lords!!!" And the taxi-in-the-mouth gag was one of the most original, ingenious, hysterically brilliant moves in any movie in a while. But there were plenty of detractors, too. Namely, some of the worst acting and dialogue in any movie in the last five years. Maria Pitillo was absolutely horrible, and even Matthew Broderick was bad. The Siskel & Ebert thing was just weird, and all the army men were cliches. Only Hank Azaria and Jean Reno seemed to understand this movie. This could have been perfect, if they had completely cut out the human aspects and focused on the big guy for the whole movie, but nooooo..."

- Anonymous (Eugene, Oregon)

"On Tuesday evening I rushed like a kid to see Godzilla. That kind of movie is definitely my cup of tea and I was really rooting for it and I wanted it to be great. But I was so deeply disappointed. I think it's one of the worst movies in recent memory and I even felt cheated. The story was one of most sloppily-structured I have ever seen. The film has no soul. An utterly tedious bore. The special effects were the worst, totally unconvincing. Jurassic Park and The Lost World had bad scripts also but what made the whole world go see them were the special effects. The dinosaurs were so life-like that people went to marvel at the technology. I even thought that the cinematography was muddy and unattractive. Sure, the movie may open big but bad word-of-mouth is going to spread quickly and cause it to plummet. Ultimately, the movie will fall way short of its commercial expectations. Too bad, I was rooting for the team that made Stargate and Independence Day but I think this time they insulted the audience by taking them for granted and thinking that no matter what they put on the screen, the hype will rescue. It won't."

- V. Margolese (Los Angeles, California)