The Godzilla franchise, which endured for 50 years, is returning from the dead. Warner Bros. and Franchise Pictures have signed a deal with Toho for a 2012 picture, Variety says. This would be the fire-breathing monster’s first appearance on North American big screens in more than a decade. Sony sponsored Roland Emmerich’s disappointing 1998 re-imaginging with Matthew Broderick, then quietly dumped an English-dubbed version of the Toho-made “Godzilla 2000” under the Tri-Star label. Four subsequent Japanese Godzilla movies, ending with the supposed series finale “Godzilla: Final Battle” (2004) were ushered straight to video in the U.S. by Sony, which has released all of the earlier Godzilla movies on DVD here.