Movies That Made or Killed Hollywood Careers

Godzilla aimed to reintroduce the iconic monster as a Hollywood blockbuster, blending disaster spectacle with science fiction. Matthew Broderick starred as a mild-mannered scientist thrust into chaos, a casting choice that leaned on charm rather than the gravitas audiences expected from the genre.

The film underperformed critically and failed to reposition Broderick as a blockbuster lead. While he continued working steadily in theater and smaller films, Godzilla marked the end of his viability as a big-budget action star and cooled the momentum he’d built in the 1980s and 90s.