Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) stomped onto U.S. theater screens in the middle of the 1950s science-fiction movie boom, alongside such now highly-regarded classics as Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both also released in 1956). The movie featured a prehistoric creature, awakened by atomic testing, that attacks Japan and wreaks havoc and destruction on a terrifying scale. While the story may have been reminiscent of previous monster-on-the-loose movies such as King Kong (1933), the presentation was unlike anything seen before. Godzilla, King of the Monsters was an enormous box-office hit in the U.S. (grossing over $2 Million) and led directly to an entire industry: the sub-genre of Japanese daikaiju eiga (giant monster movies) and accompanying spin-offs, remakes and imitations that continue worldwide to the present day.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters is actually a refashioning of a movie released in Japan as Gojira in 1954. The original Gojira, directed by Ishiro Honda, is a dark and somber film which casts the giant monster as a thinly disguised stand-in for the then-current fears of nuclear contamination posed by American H-Bomb tests being conducted near Japanese shores. It was a hit in Japan, but the American producers who acquired the distribution rights (Jewel Enterprises, Inc.) felt that it would not work with American audiences if it were simply dubbed in English and released as-is. Many of the sub-plots of Gojira were edited out (and along with them most of the topical and political scenes of atomic radiation fears) and new footage was inserted. The new footage (directed by Terry O. Morse and filmed a full 18 months after the original movie) featured actor Raymond Burr as an American reporter who narrates the film as he observes the action. He is even inserted into many scenes as a "friend" of the original Japanese characters; these scenes were accomplished by matching original footage and using stand-ins for the Japanese actors.

Soon after its theatrical run, Godzilla, King of the Monsters began being shown on local television stations around the U.S., ensuring its place among the classic monsters of an earlier era. The popularity of the late 1950s Shock Theater syndication package of 1930s and 40s Universal films featuring Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy and the Wolf Man created a "monster craze" that ran all through the 1960s, and the relative upstart Godzilla was included with those timeless monsters, appearing alongside them in magazines, games, toys, model kits, bubble gum cards and much more.