Godzilla, Call Your Agent : Movies: The venerable creature is said to be up for a starring role in a big-budget TriStar film. The studio denies Sony is pushing 1994 project.

The dinosaur vogue in Hollywood won’t end with Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” next summer. According to industry sources, TriStar Pictures is bringing back the fire-breathing, building-crushing Japanese superstar Godzilla.

TriStar Chairman Mike Medavoy refused to comment on plans for a new Godzilla movie, but sources say an official announcement about the project, tentatively scheduled as a Christmas, 1994, release, is imminent.

Godzilla, a scaly green behemoth born from nuclear waste, made his screen debut in the 1954 Japanese film “Gojira,” which was re-cut and released in this country in 1956 as “Godzilla, King of the Monsters.” Since then, he has starred in 17 Japanese-produced films. Originally a precautionary tale about the effects of nuclear warfare, the Godzilla movies typically feature battles between Godzilla and equally hideous mutant creatures such as Mothra. Godzilla’s most recent film, “Godzilla vs. Bioranch,” was released in 1989. He can be seen in a current TV commercial being vanquished by basketball star Charles Barkley.

One knowledgeable industry source suggested that the decision to make a new Godzilla film came from officials at Sony, which purchased TriStar and Columbia Pictures in 1989, and is a sign that after several years of a hands-off management style, executives in Japan are getting involved in the decisions of their American movie studios.

TriStar is reportedly negotiating with the Japanese studio Toho Co. Ltd., which owns the rights to the character. The new production would Americanize the Godzilla story, sources say, and have Godzilla do battle on U.S. soil.

The TriStar film is being planned as a big-budget production featuring A-list stars, screenwriter and director. Several directors have reportedly already expressed interest in the project, which has been in top-secret planning stages for weeks. “Batman’s” Tim Burton is among the names mentioned in connection with the project.

But the fact that it is TriStar making the movie is being viewed with amusement. “When Sony took over TriStar and Columbia, the big joke around town was ‘we’re gonna see a lot of Godzilla and kung fu movies,’ ” said one source. “But Sony officials were adamant at the time that they would not enforce their taste on the American popular culture. The decision, then, to make a Godzilla movie is priceless. The whole project smells like somebody in Tokyo had an idea.”

A TriStar source emphatically denied that the impetus for a Godzilla movie came from Sony officials in Japan. “That’s just ridiculous. There’s been no interference from them at all. For someone to even suggest that reminds me of what Perot was saying this weekend about the Republicans. That’s a very paranoid disillusion.”

According to a source, TriStar is making the Godzilla film simply because “it’s a worldwide phenomenon and a very well-known character. He’s the ultimate monster. Therefore, if this is done well, and it will be, it could be a sensational movie.”