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The Millennium Godzilla (ミレニアムゴジラ Mireniamu Gojira) is a kaiju that appeared in the 1999 Godzilla film, Godzilla 2000: Millennium. It is the first incarnation of Godzilla to appear in the Millennium series of films and fifth onscreen incarnation of the character overall. This Godzilla first appeared sometime after the original Godzilla's demise in 1954, and continually menaced Japan over the years. During a confrontation with the JSDF in Tokai, Godzilla was attacked by a gigantic flying rock, which blasted him into the ocean with a powerful laser beam fired from a hole on its side. Yuji Shinoda, aided by his former colleague Shiro Miyasaka, analyzed some of Godzilla's discarded flesh, and discovered that his cells contained a substance they called Organizer G-1, which allowed his tissue to heal entirely within a matter of hours. They believed this discovery could revolutionize modern medicine and reveal the secret to immortality. Shinoda and Miyasaka also learned that the flying rock from earlier was actually an alien spaceship, whose occupants planned to harness the power of Godzilla's Organizer G-1 to adapt to Earth's atmosphere and establish a thousand-year empire. Godzilla returned for a rematch with the UFO in Shinjuku, where he was subdued and his Organizer G-1 was forcibly extracted. The aliens exited the UFO in a combined form, but the Organizer G-1 quickly overwhelmed them, mutating them into the monster known as Orga. Godzilla fought Orga, with his enemy's healing speed exceeding his own and rendering Orga nearly impossible to kill. Godzilla eventually allowed himself to be swallowed headfirst by Orga, who was attempting to engulf and fully assimilate him, only to unleash a powerful atomic shockwave that beheaded and killed Orga. With the alien invasion thwarted, Godzilla turned his rage on the rest of Tokyo, setting the city ablaze with his atomic breath.
Godzilla Reborn, an American-made sequel to Godzilla 2000: Millennium, was briefly considered to be made with man-in-suit effects, a lower budget for Hollywood standards, and some of Toho's special effects workers. Godzilla Reborn was conceived by Michael Schlesinger, who also wrote the American version of Godzilla 2000. According to Schlesinger in an interview conducted by SciFi Japan, the proposed film started out as a joke between him and Jon Davison, whom he was friends with. He came across Davison on a lot and they briefly talk about the American version of Godzilla 2000 being liked by Toho. Schlesinger says "Yeah, and if this company [Sony] is smart, they’ll get you, me and Joe [Dante] to do the next American one." and they parted ways. Later on, he thought about it and realized it made sense and called Joe and Jon, asking them if they would like to work on a sequel and they agreed.
