The third film in the Godzilla series, King Kong Vs. Godzilla was the highest grossing to date, selling 11.2 million tickets during its initial theatrical run.

This was the second of eight Godzilla films for director Ishirō Honda

Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya rubbing elbows with the stars.

Eiji Tsuburaya and an octopus wrangler prepare to terrorize a miniature village with a “giant” octopus. 

Monsters, but certainly not heathens: a Shinto priest performs a purification ceremony prior to the start of filming.

“Now an all-mighty all-new motion picture brings them together for the first time in the colossal clash of all time!”

Forty-nine years ago today, King Kong and Godzilla took the big screen by firestorm, to have a showdown of terror and destruction on the island of Japan. Okay, so it’s not the true anniversary of the film, since it had been released in Japan the Summer before, but by the time if made it across the pond to US audiences it had seen some big changes. Tailored to perceived American tastes, with a new soundtrack, nips and tucks to cut out the satire, and new American characters, it was quite a different experience when it hit the US screenings on June 17th 1963.

We’re celebrating King Kong Vs. Godzilla all day long on the blog, paying homage with photos, fun facts, footage, common myths, reviews from the time, and a very special Andy Vs. Brian in which they will duke it out to determine once and for all which is the greatest monster.

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