The Gamera series consists of 12 films, seven of them produced by the now-defunct Daiei, four by its successor Daiei Film (later simply Daiei), and one by Kadokawa Herald Pictures. Many crew who worked on the trilogy would go on to work on the Godzilla series as well. The 1990s Heisei Gamera trilogy directed by Shusuke Kaneko is widely recognized as the finest example of giant monster films ever produced. Gamera, while not quite as popular as his Toho counterpart Godzilla, is still a recognizable pop culture icon in Japan and around the world.
While the Gamera series began as a cash-in on the popularity of the Godzilla franchise, it has since developed its own identity and become a popular and respected film series in its own right. Kadokawa has since released many of the Gamera films on home video and produced remastered versions of a few entries, and released a four-minute short in 2015 to commemorate the character's 50th anniversary. Kadokawa finally produced its first Gamera film, Gamera the Brave, in 2006 to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary. In the early 2000s, Daiei was acquired by the Kadokawa Corporation and absorbed by the company's filmmaking branch. The new film, Gamera the Guardian of the Universe, was distributed by the original Daiei's former competitor Toho and proved to be a huge critical and financial success, inspiring two critically-acclaimed sequels. After Daiei went bankrupt in the early 1970s, the Gamera series was placed on hiatus and, aside from a failed revival film produced by Daiei's successor in 1980, another entry was not produced until the series' 30th anniversary in 1995. The Godzilla series even attempted to emulate this with its films in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Gamera series attempted to aim itself more towards child audiences, often featuring children as the main characters. Like the Godzilla series before it, the Gamera series went on to include numerous other entries, all featuring the titular Gamera battling against other, more malevolent creatures. Gamera was released in theaters in the United States a year later as an edited and dubbed version titled Gammera the Invincible. The film was a success, inspiring Daiei to not only produce a sequel, but also the acclaimed Daimajin trilogy of films. The first Gamera film, Gamera the Giant Monster, was released to Japanese theaters on November 27, 1965. The Gamera series initially began as an attempt by Daiei to capitalize on the success of rival studio Toho's successful kaiju films of the time, most notably the Godzilla series. Starting in 1965, the Gamera series remains one of the longest-running film series. Gamera (ガメラ) is a series of giant monster films and other licensed products featuring the character titular kaiju Gamera, owned by the Kadokawa Corporation.
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