Mothra!

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***Mothra!*** (*モスラ, Mosura*) is an upcoming American science-fiction monster film directed and co-written by Guillermo del Toro. It is intended to be the first film in the Raydon Kaiju Universe. The film is also the fifth in the *Mothra* franchise and the first solo film featuring the character since 1998's *Rebirth of Mothra III*. It will be a co-production between The Daikaiju Film Company and Toho Co., Ltd. The film stars an ensemble cast.

The project was announced in November 2021 when Raydon Entertainment announced plans for a shared cinematic universe based on Godzilla, and unrelated to Legendary's MonsterVerse. The studio revealed an initial slate of *Mothra!* (2022), *Rodan* (2023), *Ghidorah: Planet Destroyer* (2023) and *Godzilla* (2024) with *Mothra* originally scheduled to release November 6, 2022. Principal photography began on March 5, 2022 in New Zealand and will move to Hawaii after three months where filming is expected to last an additional one to two months.

The film will release exclusively on Paramount+ on May 26, 2023 in the United States and theatrically internationally after being delayed from an initial November 6, 2022 release date.

## Synopsis

*"Rapid development in Jakarta sends a logging crew to Infant Island where they're quickly introduced to two tiny twins and the island's protector: Mothra. They attempt to kidnap Mothra and use her as a tourist attraction but when a swarm of Kumonga spider monsters attack, they must beg the queen's protection."*

## Cast

### Monsters

* TBA as Mothra
* TBA as Kumonga
* TBA as Kamacuras

## Production

### Development

Although Raydon Entertainment had plans to produce a film based on the Godzilla franchise as early as 2012, plans for a Mothra-centric film were not realized until October 2021 when Raydon announced the formation of the Kaiju Universe with *Mothra!* planned to be the first film released. Raydon Entertainment revealed they had negotiated the rights to Mothra for a trilogy, with further films being actively developed for future phases.

The official announcement of the cinematic universe occurred on November 3, 2021 (the 67th anniversary of the release of the original *Godzilla*) when the initial slate of four films (*Mothra!, Rodan, Ghidorah: Planet Destroyer* and *Godzilla*) was revealed. It will be Raydon Entertainment's second attempt at a cinematic universe since the conclusion of the Cascade Comics Cinematic Universe. The series of films were originally set up at the flagship Raydon Studios before being shifted to a newly formed division called the Daikaiju Film Company.

## Release

### Theatrical and streaming

*Mothra, Goddess of Infant Island* will be released theatrically internationally beginning on May 26, 2023, and will be released in the United States exclusively on Paramount+. It will be theatrically distributed worldwide by Paramount Pictures, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho.

## Prequel series

An anime-style animated prequel series was being developed by Guillermo del Toro for a December 2022 release on Paramount+ before he left the series to focus on the film. The series would have focused on an expedition to Infant Island that seeks to study the society of the island's natives and would have featured Mothra facing off against Dagahra.