Godzilla Minus One (ゴジラ-1.0（マイナスワン）, Gojira Mainasu Wan) is a 2023 Japanese epic kaiju film written, directed, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. Produced by Toho Studios and Robot Communications and distributed by Toho, it is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise, Toho's 33rd Godzilla film, and the fifth film in the franchise's Reiwa era. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando and Kuranosuke Sasaki. Set in postwar Japan, it follows a former kamikaze pilot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after encountering a giant monster known as "Godzilla".

Following Shin Godzilla (2016), Toho was unable to produce another live-action Godzilla film until 2020, owing to a contract with Legendary Entertainment. Producer Minami Ichikawa appointed Yamazaki to create the movie upon the completion of The Great War of Archimedes (2019). Principal photography was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Yamazaki three years to work on the script, taking inspiration from previous Godzilla movies and the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Steven Spielberg. In February 2022, Robot Communications publicized that Yamazaki would soon direct an untitled kaiju movie. Filming occurred primarily in Chūbu and Kantō from March to June 2022. Shirogumi's Chōfu studio spent eight months creating the visual effects. The film was revealed to be an installment in the Godzilla series in November 2022, and its title was announced in July 2023.

Godzilla Minus One premiered at the Shinjuku Toho Building on October 18, 2023, and was released in Japan on November 3, to celebrate the franchise's 70th anniversary. Toho International later released it in North America on December 1. The film grossed almost $116 million worldwide on an estimated $10–12 million budget, becoming the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2023 and surpassing Shin Godzilla as the most successful Japanese Godzilla film. Many critics praised it as one of the best films of 2023 and among the greatest in the Godzilla franchise. It also attained numerous accolades, including a leading 12 nominations at the 47th Japan Academy Film Prize (winning eight), three nominations at the 17th Asian Film Awards (winning two), and winning Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards.

Plot

In 1945, near the end of World War II, kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima lands his Mitsubishi A6M Zero for repairs at the Japanese base on Odo Island. Lead mechanic Sōsaku Tachibana deduces that Shikishima is feigning technical issues to flee from his duty. That night, Godzilla, a large dinosaur-like creature, attacks the garrison. Tachibana tells Shikishima to fire at the monster from his plane, but he panics, fails to shoot, and is knocked unconscious. When he awakes the following day, he finds Tachibana is the only other survivor, who is furious at him for failing to act.

Shikishima returns home to find his parents were killed in the bombing of Tokyo. Plagued by survivor's guilt, he begins supporting a woman, Noriko Ōishi, whose parents also died in the bombing, and an orphaned baby, Akiko, whom Noriko rescued. He finds employment aboard a minesweeper tasked with disposing of naval mines from World War II. Meanwhile, Godzilla is mutated and empowered by the United States' nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll; it sinks the USS Redfish and destroys several other ships en route to Japan. Owing to tensions with the Soviet Union, the U.S. offers no help save for a few decommissioned Imperial Japanese Navy vessels approved by General Douglas MacArthur. The Japanese government, concerned about inducing panic, does not notify the public about the danger.

In May 1947, Shikishima and his minesweeper crew travel to the Ogasawara Islands and are tasked with stalling Godzilla's approach to Japan. They release a mine into Godzilla's mouth and detonate it, causing significant damage, but it quickly regenerates. The heavy cruiser Takao then engages Godzilla, but is destroyed when the monster unleashes its heat ray. After returning to Tokyo, Shikishima opens up to Noriko about his encounters with Godzilla. Days later, Godzilla makes landfall in Japan and attacks Ginza, where Noriko works. She narrowly survives the initial attack and reunites with Shikishima. Enraged by tank fire, Godzilla obliterates much of the district with its heat ray, killing tens of thousands. Noriko pushes Shikishima to safety, but is caught in the blast and presumed dead. Devastated by the loss, Shikishima vows revenge.

Frustrated by the government's inaction, one of the minesweeper's crew, former naval engineer Kenji Noda, devises a plan to destroy Godzilla by luring it out to Sagami Bay before surrounding it with Freon tanks and rupturing them, lowering the water's buoyancy and sinking it, letting the resultant water pressure crush it. Should the plan fail, balloons will be inflated under Godzilla to force it back up, killing it through explosive decompression. To enact his plan, Noda has recruited navy veterans to crew disarmed IJN destroyers. Shikishima recruits Tachibana to repair a broken-down Kyushu J7W Shinden fighter. He plans to kill Godzilla in a suicide attack by flying into its mouth and detonating explosive charges on board. He leaves Akiko in the care of his neighbor Sumiko before Godzilla resurfaces.

As Shikishima lures Godzilla to the trap set by two destroyers, Sumiko receives a telegram intended for Shikishima. Godzilla survives the initial plunge and then breaks free before being forced back up, sustaining serious injuries from the resultant decompression-induced barotrauma. With the help of a fleet of tugboats organized by Mizushima, another crewmate from the minesweeper, the ships haul Godzilla to the surface. Enraged, Godzilla prepares to destroy all the vessels with its heat ray, but Shikishima crashes the plane into Godzilla's mouth and destroys its head, causing the energy of the heat ray to tear its body apart. The crew celebrates as Shikishima ejects before the explosion and parachutes to safety, using an ejection seat that Tachibana installed in the Shinden, imploring him to let go of his guilt and continue living.

Upon returning home, Sumiko gives Shikishima the telegram, which leads him to a hospital where he reunites with Noriko, who survived the destruction but has a black bruise creeping up her neck. Meanwhile, a chunk of Godzilla's flesh begins to regenerate as it sinks into the ocean.

Cast

English dub

The cast listing for the English dub is sourced from Anime News Network.

Production

Crew

Personnel are sourced from Kinema Junpo and CGWORLD.

Development

In July 2016, Toho Co., Ltd. released a reboot of the Godzilla franchise, titled Shin Godzilla. It became critically and commercially successful, leading director Hideaki Anno to create two other tokusatsu reboot films: Shin Ultraman (2022) and Shin Kamen Rider (2023). According to Godzilla Minus One producer Kenji Yamada, Toho had planned several live-action Godzilla films in the wake of Shin Godzilla's success, but all were canceled as they felt none of them were worthy follow-ups. In 2017, Shin Godzilla co-director Shinji Higuchi stated at the American fan convention G-Fest that Toho would not be able to produce another Godzilla film until after 2020; this was due to their contract with Legendary Pictures, who were producing their own Godzilla films, that forbade Toho from releasing their potential Godzilla films in the same year as Legendary's films. In 2018, Toho executive Keiji Ota revealed that Shin Godzilla would not receive a sequel and expressed interest in a potential shared universe Godzilla series akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In 2019, Toho began a "Godzilla Room" division, devoted to planning new Godzilla projects. Following the completion of his film The Great War of Archimedes that same year, producer Minami Ichikawa appointed renowned filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki to make Toho's next Godzilla film. Godzilla Minus One is Yamazaki's third time working on a production utilizing Godzilla. His 2007 film Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 features the monster in a dream-like opening sequence, and he directed and created the effects for Seibu-en Amusement Park's motion simulator attraction Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021).

On February 18, 2022, Robot Communications announced the film, with the working title Blockbuster Monster Movie (超大作怪獣映画, Chōtaisaku Kaijū Eiga), via a casting call on its official website. Robot stated Yamazaki would direct and that the film would be presented by Toho. The next day, HuffPost writer Kenji Ando mentioned the conjecture from fans on social media whether the film would be a remake of the 1954 film. Ando also noted that it is a period piece set in postwar Japan between 1945 and 1947, citing Yamazaki's comments from an interview regarding his depiction of Godzilla in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2: "You can't have Godzilla unless it's the Shōwa era".

Toho declared that Yamazaki's unnamed kaiju project is a Godzilla film on November 3, 2022, at an event celebrating the franchise's 68th anniversary known as "Godzilla Day". The company also revealed that the film had completed filming and had entered post-production with a targeted release date of November 3, 2023. Yamazaki was named the film's writer and visual effects supervisor. During a press conference on December 13, 2022, Toho's head of planning Hisashi Usui implied that the new film is connected to the 1954 film. In the July 2023 press release that also revealed the film's title, teaser, and poster, Yamazaki regaled his pitch and vision for the film:

Postwar Japan has lost everything. The film depicts an existence that gives unprecedented despair. The title Godzilla Minus One was created with this in mind. In order to depict this, the staff and I have worked together to create a setting where Godzilla looks as if 'fear' itself is walking toward us, and where despair is piled on top of despair. I think this is the culmination of all the films I have made to date, and one that deserves to be 'experienced' rather than 'watched' in the theater. I hope you will experience the most terrifying Godzilla in the best possible environment.

Toho filed a trademark for the Japanese title on the same day as the press release, also registering its various alternative readings such as Gojira Minus Itten Zero (ゴジラマイナスイッテンゼロ). The English-Japanese title for Godzilla Minus One was conceived by producer Shūji Abe, and Yamazaki believes Abe took influence from Tadashi Hirose's science fiction novel Minus Zero. The title, according to the director, has multiple meanings, explicitly referring to how Godzilla's destruction changed Japan's position from a "post-war zero situation" to a "minus". When explaining other possible reasons for the title, Yamazaki said that the film takes place before the original 1954 Godzilla film and that it emphasizes the theme of loss throughout.

Writing, themes, and influences

The script initially took a year to develop based on an outline from March 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the crew to postpone filming for a few years, resulting in work on the screenplay taking roughly three years. The worldwide anxiety and government unreliability during the pandemic became one of his major inspirations for the story and Yamazaki hoped these events are reflected clearly in the finished film. He steered clear of setting the film in modern Japan and having to draw inspiration from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster as he believed it would become too similar to Shin Godzilla (2016). Instead, Yamazaki decided to set the film in postwar Japan, allowing Godzilla Minus One to explore the themes of anti-nuclear, anti-war, trauma, hope, guilt, and redemption. Godzilla also symbolizes the Japanese perspective of nuclear holocaust in the film, akin to the original 1954 Godzilla film.

Yamazaki decided to include the heavy cruiser Takao, Shinden fighter, destroyers Yukikaze and Hibiki because he is a fan of military history and had never depicted them before.

Yamazaki was inspired by Shusuke Kaneko's Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)—which he has cited as one of his favorite Godzilla films—while writing the screenplay for Godzilla Minus One. He reflected in a discussion with Kaneko: "I had forgotten the contents of GMK for a while, but it seems like I self-consciously thought about it when writing the scenario for -1.0. Without realizing it, I was under considerable influence". Godzilla Minus One was also heavily influenced by the 1954 film, Shin Godzilla (2016), Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and War of the Worlds (2005), and the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Godzilla (2014) director Gareth Edwards identified Spielberg's films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jurassic Park (1993), and Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (2017) as other evident influences on the film.

A novelization of the film, written by Yamazaki, was published in Japan by Shueisha on November 8, 2023. According to Yamazaki, the novel features a scene set on Odo Island that he proposed for the film but was left unfilmed since Toho refused to allow him to do pick-ups.

Casting

Yamazaki sought to cast talented individuals who were able to give convincing performances of people living during the Shōwa period and could make Godzilla's presence in the film seem more realistic. His casting decisions were influenced little by the previous Godzilla films, since this movie was about the lives of ordinary Japanese in the 1940s rather than politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, and the Self-Defense Forces. The reason for this was that Yamazaki wanted audiences to empathize with and connect with the characters despite the post-war setting.

During preproduction, producer Minami Ichikawa offered Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe to play the film's leads, Kōichi Shikishima and Noriko Ōishi, prior to them playing similar roles in the NHK drama series Ranman (2023). According to Yamazaki, the media criticized this casting, believing it would be too similar to their roles in Ranman, when announced the two would star in the film at a press conference on September 4, 2023. Yamazaki also revealed that he cast Kuranosuke Sasaki as Captain Yōji Akitsu because of his performances in Asadora such as Hiyokko (2017), which had a major influence on him. One of the producers approached Sakura Ando about playing the role of Shikishima's neighbor prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, but she had to wait several years to play the role. However, when she finally got the chance to act, the producer suggested that she choose between playing in the film or Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster since they were being filmed simultaneously. Refusing to make an appearance in just one of the films, Ando said she "fought for it and in the end I got to be in both".

Ōishi and Shikishima's adopted daughter Akiko was originally planned to be a boy. After meeting two-year-old child actress Sae Nagatani, however, Yamazaki decided to change this in order for her to play the role. When questioned how he managed to get Nagatani to cry for some scenes, the director responded "I found a genius".

Design

The design of Godzilla in Minus One is a variation of the one in Godzilla the Ride. Inspired by the Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack design, Yamazaki initially envisioned his design having "half-moon shaped eyes", but modeling head Kosuke Taguchi gave it "almond-shaped" ones instead, with the final design having "golden, almond-shaped eyes". Yamazaki also elaborated that since the crew created this Godzilla in digital form: "it allowed for much more detail than what was possible with any type of handcrafted version. So we were able to increase the resolution of the scales, for example, and make them feel really, really sharp and give it this aggressive texture. And in terms of the bottom half of Godzilla, we made it feel very heavy and dense in a way that made the viewer feel like this mountain and triangular silhouette was walking and moving through a space."

Yamazaki attempted to make this Godzilla the most horrifying version yet. The crew designed Godzilla to be ferocious, violent, and dynamic, with a static, god-like aspect. Its dorsal fins were made more "spiky and ferocious" than the incarnation in Godzilla the Ride, as if its regenerative energy had become disorderly. Yamazaki stated that the team also tried to make Godzilla the "deadliest in history" adding that it is "discerning today, experiencing the freshness and fear felt by audiences at the time".

Filming

Principal photography took place on location in the Chūbu (in the Aichi and Nagano prefectures) and Kantō regions of Honshu, starting on March 17, 2022, and wrapping circa June 11. According to Robot's website, the film would be set between 1945 and 1947, so there would be restrictions on the extras' costume sizes, hairstyles (declaring that long-haired men would require perms), and hair colors (declaring that hair dyeing would not be allowed). The film's maritime sequences were filmed at Lake Hamana and in the Enshū Sea. Between April and June 2022, several community businesses near the Tenryū River helped the crew modify and maintain boats to shoot navy scenes in Enshū. Other shooting locations include the City Hall in Okaya, Nagano, the Tsukuba Naval Air Group Memorial Museum in Kasama, the Former Kashima Naval Air Base Site in Miho, and the Shimodate General Sports Park in Chikusei.

During production, scenes featuring the Kyushu J7W Shinden were partly realized through the construction of a 1:1 scale replica of the aircraft, of which only a single example exists and is located outside Japan in the collection of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Yamazaki noted that "Initially, the budget didn't allow for any portion of the [airplane] to be built" but "thinking outside the box, having a plan B, we were able to find a museum that was willing to purchase the prop after the film was made, which offset the production budget it would have taken to produce the plane in the first place". Thus, following the completion of shooting, the replica was transported to and put on display at the Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum in Chikuzen, Fukuoka in July 2022. Toho donated the replica under anonymity, only revealing their involvement in the construction of the model after Godzilla Minus One released.

Visual effects

All 610 of the film's visual effect shots were handled by a crew of 35 artists at Shirogumi's Chōfu studio, under the supervision of Yamazaki and direction of Kiyoko Shibuya. According to the Los Angeles Times, between a quarter and a third of the film's budget was spent on visual effects.

Eight months were spent on creating the visual effects. A TV Shinshu special about Yamazaki released in 2023 indicated that the team began creating the effects for the film in July 2022. Shirogumi revealed by opening a recruitment call for visual effects designers and compositors in August 2022, that post-production had begun and visual effects were taking place from that same month until January 2023; they later changed the dates to between November 2022 and February 2023. Their website named the 3D animation software Houdini and Maya for design and Nuke for compositing. Yamazaki had made a 3D maquette design on ZBrush, with Taguchi augmenting the design by adding his own elements, including the insertion of polygons and rendering displacement maps using Redshift. Then, the team retopologized the maquette design and finalized the displacement maps with Mudbox. After the visual effects were finished, post-production concluded in late May 2023.

The ocean sequences were originally not intended to be as sizable in the film until compositor Tatsuji Nojima, who composes computer-generated water at home as a hobby, presented Yamazaki with some of his own water simulations, inspiring the director to rewrite its climax and include more scenes set at sea. The team strived creating these sequences, especially Godzilla's destruction scene. Yamazaki reflected that "It put a huge strain on all of our rendering engines, so we created so much data in the process that when we added it all up it was easily over a petabyte. In the end, we erased the data from the scene where it was done, and made it while opening the hard disk."

Yamazaki admitted to Shinji Higuchi, co-director and effects director of Shin Godzilla, that the film's destruction sequences and on-screen deaths were inspired by the Shibuya sequence in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris; Higuchi had also directed that film's effects. Some of the characters present on-screen during Godzilla's rampage were created using Houdini; around 60 extras were 3D scanned to be replaced by a digital duplicate. He also paid homage to previous Godzilla films by not using any "muscle simulation" for the monster and employed miniatures to depict the post-war Tokyo townscape, which is a traditional Japanese special effect (or tokusatsu) technique.

Music and sound effects

Yamazaki's frequent collaborator Naoki Satō scored the film. Rambling Records released Godzilla Minus One Original Soundtrack, on CD in Japan on October 28, 2023, with a limited edition vinyl following on November 24. On January 19, 2024, Toho announced that Waxwork Records is set to release the score on vinyl, with pre-ordering starting that same day.

When composing the score, Satō took inspiration from Studio Ghibli's anime movies for the poignant scenes and the music of Akira Ifukube to accentuate the kaiju sequences. He also remade some of Ifukube's tracks from Godzilla (1954), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) for some scenes.

Natsuko Inoue handled the sound effects. She felt it was her mission to recreate the original Godzilla's roar using a modern sound system. Having tried many methods to keep the sound intact, Inoue decided that it wasn't strong enough, so she opted to record outdoors and use the echoes to enhance it. She decided to play the roar at the ZOZO Marine Stadium to create the fresh sound effect she desired, believing it was the only stadium that could meet the requirements they needed as it had huge speakers, no ceiling, was spacious, and was slightly sloped. Reminiscing on enhancing the roar at the stadium, Inoue said "I'll never forget the emotion I felt when I played it from the biggest speaker behind the electronic bulletin board"; Yamazaki recalled, "I felt a shiver in the pit of my stomach when I thought that people who actually saw Godzilla would hear this sound." After the crew played the sound at the stadium, they received several complaints from nearby residents.

Producer Gō Abe stated that sound effects from the Ichibata Dehani 50 series were utilized for the scene where Godzilla attacks a 63 series train, as the crew sought to enhance the postwar setting through practical sounds.

Marketing

On June 12, 2023, the film's Twitter account began a daily countdown for all of Toho's live-action Godzilla films, starting with its previous live-action film Shin Godzilla. On July 11, Toho lifted the embargo on its secret kaiju film project, which was revealed as Godzilla Minus One. The film was announced with a teaser trailer, poster (which was primarily designed by Yamazaki), and the release date for the United States. Merchandise for the film was unveiled the next day with a full-body shot of Godzilla.

On July 13, Tamashii unveiled its Godzilla toy for its S.H. MonsterArts line; the toy was sculpted by Yuki Sakai under Yamazaki's supervision and based on 3D data from the film. A series of pre-release products and an exhibit promoting the film was at the exhibition "The Visual World-crafting of YAMAZAKI Takashi [sic], Film Director" in Yamazaki's hometown of Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture, from July 15 to October 29. A 2-meter tall Godzilla statue was exhibited at the 2023 Summer Wonder Festival on July 30. At the request of Toho, Hiroaki Fukushi spent roughly one month creating a statue of Godzilla, dubbed "Godzilla Neputa", to promote the film at the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri from August 4 to 8.

Toho released its official trailer alongside the theatrical release poster, and details on the central cast and staff members on September 4. On September 14, 15 shots and a visual of Godzilla from the film were released; ticket sales (via Mubichike Online) and flyers for its November 3 release were released the following day. On September 14, SciFi Japan reported that the film had remained the top trending film on social media sites in Japan and the U.S., with the trailer accumulating over 9 million views on YouTube.

During a press conference on September 25, Hamamatsu, the city bordering Lake Hamana (where some scenes in the film were shot), announced that it would promote the film to make the location a tourist attraction by preparing for "location cruising" at the lake in late October. On October 7, behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Godzilla Minus One was broadcast on Channel 4 of TV Shinshu, as part of a television special on Yamazaki, which was narrated by Hidetaka Yoshioka.

On October 18, Yamazaki and the film's stars attended its red carpet premiere along Godzilla Street in Kabukichō, Shinjuku; the red carpet was 50.1 meters in length, which is the fictitious height of Godzilla in Godzilla Minus One. In addition, the "Godzilla Attack Truck" was revealed for the first time on the red carpet; it would later travel around Japan to promote the movie. Television stations across Japan began airing a television special on Godzilla Minus One in late October. It features interviews with Yamazaki, Kamiki, and Hamabe, and behind-the-scenes footage. On October 23, Yamazaki, Kamiki, and Hamabe attended the red carpet at the opening of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival. To promote the film in Japan, soft drink manufacture Cheerio released a new Chūhai drink called the "Godzilla Energy Chu-hi [sic]" on November 6.

Selected screenings

On August 24, it was announced that, as a prelude to the release of Godzilla Minus One, Yamazaki had selected "4 Godzilla Works" for screenings in September and October. An accompanying "talk show" took place before each screening, with Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman (2022) director Shinji Higuchi serving as the guest for the screening of the original 1954 Godzilla film, and suitmaker Keizō Murase serving as the guest for the screening of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). The third and fourth Godzilla films selected by Yamazaki for screenings are Shusuke Kaneko's Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), and a new black-and-white version of Shin Godzilla created by Hideaki Anno, Higuchi and Katsuro Onoue, respectively. Kaneko and Anno were also the guests at the talk shows for their respective films.

Collaborative projects

The film was promoted at the Tokyo Dome in collaboration with the Yomiuri Giants in their match against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, taking place on October 1. A "special collaboration" video and a 3.6-meter statue of Godzilla were displayed at the venue. On September 27, Fujita Kanko stated in a press release that the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun hot spring theme park in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture would hold an event in collaboration with the film from October 20, 2023, to January 8, 2024.

Release

Theatrical

Godzilla Minus One had its worldwide premiere at Toho Cinemas' theater inside the Shinjuku Toho Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, on October 18, 2023. It was the closing film at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, where it was shown with English subtitles. To celebrate the franchise's 70th anniversary, the film was released nationwide in Japan on November 3, the same date as the first Godzilla film's wide release in 1954. It was shown in over 500 theaters nationwide—including in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, MX4D, and ScreenX formats—making it one of Toho's largest domestic distributions to date. Selected Japanese theaters screened the film with English subtitles on November 23.

The film's American premiere took place at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles on November 10, with Yamazaki and Kamiki in attendance. It was also screened by Polygon at Santa Ana's Frida Cinema on November 27, the Japan Society in Manhattan on November 28, and in selected large screens in the United States the next day. Toho's American subsidiary Toho International released it throughout the U.S. with English subtitles on December 1, becoming the company's first wide theatrical self-distribution in North America. It left American theaters on February 1, 2024, allegedly because Legendary Entertainment's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was being readied for release eight weeks later. Nevertheless, Collider and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures each held a screening in Los Angeles: on February 19 and March 31, respectively.

The film was released in several other Western countries on December 1, 2023. These countries included Australia and New Zealand (via Sugoi Co); Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland (via Peppermint Anime); and Benelux, France, Italy, the Nordics, Poland, and Spain. Sato Company released it in Brazil on December 14, 2023, while Anime Limited released it in the United Kingdom and Ireland on December 15.

Home media

Godzilla Minus One was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, as well as regular Blu-ray and DVD formats in Japan on May 1, 2024; the Ultra HD Blu-ray was revealed as a "deluxe edition" featuring both the color and black-and-white versions and multiple bonus features. Two days later, Amazon Prime Video began streaming it in Japan. On June 1, 2024, the film became available internationally on several streaming services, including Netflix, in its original language and dubbed in numerous other languages.

Black-and-white edition

Toho released a black-and-white version of the film, titled Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color (ゴジラ-1.0（マイナスワン）／C（マイナスカラー）, Gojira Mainasu Wan/Mainasu Karā), in Japanese theaters on January 12, 2024; Toho International released this version in the United States on January 26, where it played until February 1.

Colorist Masahiro Ishiyama was assigned to create Minus Color. Yamazaki proposed that Godzilla's atomic breath should remain in color for the black-and-white edition, similar to how Akira Kurosawa's black-and-white crime film High and Low (1963) features colored smoke in one scene. However, this concept was rejected by the rest of the crew. In regards to the Minus Color version, the director said in a statement: "Rather than just making it monochrome, it is a cut-by-cut. I had them make adjustments while making full use of various mattes as if they were creating a new movie." Minus Color is an attempt to make it more of a documentary-style horror film, and homage to the 1954 film. This version was also the last credit for producer Shūji Abe, who died on December 11, 2023; Yamazaki and the visual effects team paid tribute to Abe at the 96th Academy Awards, saying he was "lost too soon".

Reception

Box office

Godzilla Minus One grossed $48,207,737 in Japan, and $67,649,676 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $115,857,413. The film's largest market was the United States and Canada, where it earned $56,418,793. According to Deadline Hollywood, Godzilla Minus One was a sleeper hit but its wide release became "one of the most successful ever from Japan". In December 2023, it dethroned Shin Godzilla (2016) as the highest-grossing Japanese Godzilla film ever. The following month, Toho's CEO, Hiroyasu Matsuoka, stated that the film exceeded the company's expectations at the worldwide box office and helped their yearly theatrical income exceeding ¥100 billion ($680 million) for the first time ever.

Japan

Godzilla Minus One debuted at number one at the Japanese box office, grossing ¥1.04 billion ($7.8 million) from 648,577 tickets during its first three days. During its opening weekend, it grossed $1.2 million from 49 IMAX theaters, making it the largest opening for a live-action Japanese film in the format. It remained at number one for three consecutive weekends, but was overtaken by Tonde Saitama ~Biwako Yori Ai o Komete~ in its fourth weekend. In January 2024, the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan reported that Godzilla Minus One was the fifth-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2023. It eventually became the highest-grossing live-action film to debut in Japan during 2023 and the 99th highest-grossing movie ever at the Japanese box office.

Other territories

In the United States and Canada, the film was planned to play for only a week, and was projected to gross around $10 million from 2,308 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $2.1 million from Wednesday and Thursday previews and went on to debut with $11 million, finishing in third place, breaking the U.S. opening weekend record for a live-action Japanese film, and overtaking Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village as the biggest debut for a foreign film in 2023. Its unexpected commercial success in the U.S. resulted in the film being extended to over 2,600 theaters on December 15, 2023, and remaining there until February 1, 2024. During its North American theatrical run, Godzilla Minus One also became the highest-grossing Japanese-language film, the 46th highest-earning movie of 2023, and dethroned Bong Joon-ho's Parasite (2019) as the third highest-grossing foreign-language film of all time domestically.

Outside of Japan and the US, the highest-grossing territories were Mexico ($5,552,898), the United Kingdom ($3,185,119), Australia ($1,355,174), and Spain ($228,148). During its opening weekend in Brazil and the UK, the film debuted at second place and earned £816,891 in the latter.

Critical response

Godzilla Minus One received mixed reviews from Japanese critics. Tokyo-based film critic and journalist Mark Schilling wrote that Japanese critics frequently rebuke the films of writer-director Takashi Yamazaki, partly because "most are left-leaning" and view a few of his films, most notably the war drama The Eternal Zero (2013), as "nationalistic if not outright jingoistic". Schilling also mentioned that critic and historian Inuhiko Yomota was critical of Godzilla Minus One, calling it "dangerous".

Meanwhile, the film attained widespread critical acclaim overseas. According to The Hollywood Reporter, American critics praised its drama, low-budgeted visual effects, and usage of the kaiju metaphor for social commentary, with many favoring it over recent Hollywood productions. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 198 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "With engaging human stories anchoring the action, Godzilla Minus One is one kaiju movie that remains truly compelling between the scenes of mass destruction." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". American audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and polls by PostTrak gave it a 92% overall positive score, with 83% saying they would definitely recommend the film.

Deadline Hollywood described it as "a Godzilla for the ages, a Godzilla art film". Screen International and Time Out found Yamazaki's depiction of Godzilla in the film to be frightening; whereas IGN believed that the film was not as terrifying as Shin Godzilla and was "more swell". Variety, The Washington Post, and Deadline concurred that one of the film's highlights was its largely emotionally-driven storyline. The Washington Post compared it positively to Top Gun: Maverick (2022), commenting that both films were reminders of the importance of movies that combine "concise and creative action with emotionally resonant characters". The Austin Chronicle wrote that its emotional messages are akin to that of Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952), a film about an ill bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning in life. Collider appreciated how the film merged "sweeping spectacle and tense action with the more complicated themes of war and loss". James Berardinelli lauded the film's effects, spectacle, screenplay, set and sound design, cinematography, and character development; and believed it is one of the best Godzilla films. Kevin Maher and the Daily Express deemed Godzilla Minus One to be superior to the American Godzilla films because of its visuals and plot.

Many reviewers complimented the film's characters, with the Daily Express and Deadline Hollywood agreeing that they were three-dimensional. According to Dana Stevens, Ryunosuke Kamiki's performance is memorable because of his ability to convey the protagonist's vulnerability and emotional distress. Contrarily, some reviewers were critical of the supporting characters. IGN Japan viewed them as overly stereotypical examples of Japanese people during the Shōwa era, and The Japan Times believed that the characters played by Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Sakura Ando, and Miou Tanaka were monotonous compared to the visuals and implied that their scenes were "eye-roll-inducing stuff". Additionally, the South China Morning Post noted that some criticism was directed towards the film "pushing a pro-military agenda".

Industry response

Godzilla Minus One attained praise from industry figures. Writing for Deadline Hollywood, Pete Hammond stated that the film "astounded" Hollywood and the filmmakers' use of their low budget impressed the Visual Effects Governors.

Hideaki Anno, co-director of Shin Godzilla, called the film "well-made" and praised the film's technical prowess, saying that Japan has improved in the field of visual effects. Godzilla (2014) director Gareth Edwards admitted to feeling "jealous", adding that "this is what a Godzilla movie should be" and that the film should be "mentioned as a candidate for the best Godzilla movie of all time". At the film's American premiere, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) director Michael Dougherty told Yamazaki and Kamiki that the film was "amazing" and Seth Green said "It's a movie filled with a lot of emotions, and I was very moved by it". Guillermo del Toro noted the film's "Theatre-sized ambition and fulfillment" and called it "a miracle". Filmmakers Adam Wingard (director of Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), Joe Dante, James Ponsoldt, and Juel Taylor listed the film amongst their favorite films of 2023. Kevin Smith named it "by far the best Godzilla movie that I've ever seen" and compared the ocean sequences to Jaws (1975).

Several filmmakers, including John Landis, spoke to Yamazaki and three other members of the visual effects crew while they were at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on January 13, 2024, and some expressed to them that they believed the movie is the best of 2023. Blumhouse Productions founder and CEO Jason Blum named it his favorite movie of the year and expressed his desires for Yamazaki to make a Blumhouse film. Yamazaki met Steven Spielberg—who was a significant influence on the film—at the 2024 Oscar Nominees Luncheon. According to The A.V. Club, Spielberg was "obsessed" with the film and told Yamazaki: "I saw it once in my home, and then I had to go see it again in IMAX, then Dolby Atmos". Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan praised the film, saying it had much in common with Yamazaki's 2013 film The Eternal Zero and offered deep insights into its main characters. Nolan also said he "can't think of a better director" to create a response to Oppenheimer than Yamazaki.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters creators Matt Fraction and Chris Black commend the film's storyline and themes, with Black feeling it was equal to their show and Legendary's Monsterverse films. Video game designer Hideo Kojima hailed the screenplay, depiction of Godzilla, visual effects, score, and Hamabe's performance, joking that "the result was +120 points, so I would like to change the title". One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda said that the film was "great" and it inspired him to watch other entries in the series afterward. Manga artist Aka Akasaka called the human drama "wonderful" and said that he cried during some scenes.

U.S. performance

Several American media analysts and journalists noted how the film's critical and commercial success in the United States excelled recent Hollywood tentpoles, particularly superhero films. They also often mentioned that it delivered visual effects on a very low budget and had superior quality compared with those movies. Comscore's senior analyst Paul Dergarabedian attributed the film's success to "outside-of-the-box thinking or movies that have a unique point of view, or not trying to just replicate what was successful before". He compared the film to similarly successful 2023 films—such as Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Sound of Freedom—that also offered fresh and unorthodox experiences. Dergarabedian argued that audiences do not have fatigue from Godzilla or action films but fatigue from "bad movies". Saba Hamedy from NBC News said that the film proved that action films based on recycled characters can still find success.

Japanese film critic Naoto Mori attributed the film's success to the fact that it was released during a period when Hollywood superhero movies bombed because they had a poor response from theatergoers and overly large budgets. Mori suggested that Godzilla Minus One was viewed as the opposite of those films since it demonstrated that films do not require enormous budgets to be visually captivating and have a "suitably profound story". Toho's CEO Hiroyasu Matsuoka felt the film "benefited from less competition on release due to the strike in Hollywood".

Accolades

Godzilla Minus One won Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards. It was the first Godzilla film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award, as well as the first Japanese and Asian film to be nominated for, and win, as well as the first non-English language film to win, in the Best Visual Effects category. In addition, Yamazaki became the first director since Stanley Kubrick (for 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1969), and Kiyoko Shibuya became the first woman of color to win in the category. At the 19th Austin Film Critics Association Awards, Godzilla Minus One was selected as the sixth best film of 2023 and won Best International Film.

The film received nominations for three Asian Film Awards (winning two; Best Visual Effects and Best Sound), four Blue Ribbon Awards (winning three; Best Film, Best Actor for Kamiki, and Best Supporting Actress for Hamabe), four Critics' Choice Super Awards (winning two: Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie and Best Villain in a Movie for Godzilla), six Mainichi Film Awards (winning Best Art Direction for Anri Jojo), and four Seattle Film Critics Society Awards (winning three; Best International Film, Best Visual Effects, and Villain of the Year). Godzilla Minus One won eight of its leading twelve nominations at the 47th Japan Academy Film Prize, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Sakura Ando, becoming the most-awarded film at that year's ceremony.

Controversies

Contentions on budget estimates

Upon the film's release, its budget became a topic of wide discussion. It reportedly had a budget under 10% of that held by the previous Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), produced by American studio Legendary Entertainment. On November 14, 2023, Yamazaki denied that the movie cost ¥1 billion, stating that its budget was higher. Multiple websites—including Variety, IGN, The Times, Slate, and The Hollywood Reporter—asserted that the film's budget was $15 million (roughly ¥2.2 billion). However, Yamazaki also denied this figure and specified that the film cost less. The Hindustan Times reported the budget to be $10 million, and Yamazaki later confirmed that the budget was within $10–15 million. Subsequently, The A.V. Club cited it as $10–12 million, adding that the number is "on the higher end for the Japanese film industry". Hideo Kojima also claimed during an interview with Yamazaki that the film's budget was under ¥1.5 billion.

Yamazaki has refused to divulge the film's actual budget figure out of fear that "everyone's gonna want me to make a movie for that number".

Allegations of poor working conditions

Some Western journalists suggested that the film's low budget and low amount of animators reflected harsh working conditions in the Japanese film industry. However, they were unable to provide direct evidence verifying that its crew endured such circumstances.

According to Yamazaki, the visual effects team was not mistreated. They avoided working long hours on the film and installed a kitchen in the studio to make it "more comfortable and cozy". Moreover, he explained there are two categories of animation studios in Japan: "white" and "black", with "black" studios being the exploiters; the name of the film's visual effects studio, Shirogumi, literally means "white team" in Japanese.

Reception in South Korea

Shortly after its Netflix premiere on June 1, 2024, the film provoked controversy in South Korea. On June 12, The Chosun Ilbo reported that some accused the film of glorifying kamikaze pilots with the scene where its protagonist, Koichi Shikishima, rams his plane into Godzilla's mouth to kill the monster. South Korean viewers reportedly also attacked the depiction of Godzilla, believing its defeat to represent a "mental victory" for Japan because the monster symbolizes a nuclear weapon. Similar condemnations were previously made against writer-director Takashi Yamazaki for his 2013 film The Eternal Zero, which also depicts a kamikaze pilot.

Post-release

Cultural impact

According to Toho, Godzilla Minus One was a "global phenomenon", with fans making it "propel to the forefront of pop culture". In February 2024, Gavin J Blair of The Hollywood Reporter suggested that Godzilla Minus One is a significant contributor to the recent revival of Japanese popular culture in the West, alongside Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron (2023), the first season of Netflix's live action adaptation of One Piece, and the miniseries Shōgun (2024). Collider claimed that Godzilla Minus One "helped the Godzilla series become more popular than ever before" and Variety implied that the film had gained a legendary status by April 2024. Amidst the film's popularity, Yamazaki and the visual effects team were assigned to create another kaiju film, the web short Foodlosslla: What Should Humanity Do!? (2024). In 2024, Yamazaki was included in Gold House's annual list of 100 Most Impactful Asians as a result of Godzilla Minus One's achievements.

As a tribute to Godzilla Minus One, director Adam Wingard and visual effects supervisor Alessandro Ongaro recreated a shot of the ground bursting beneath Godzilla's foot for the Rome sequence in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024). Many critics disapproved of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, believing that its human drama and visual effects were inferior to those in Godzilla Minus One. Regardless, the positive word-of-mouth Yamazaki's movie generated is believed to have helped Godzilla x Kong achieve several box office milestones, including becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2024.

Media recognition

Godzilla Minus One is widely considered one of the best films of 2023 and among the greatest Godzilla movies ever made. IndieWire's annual critics poll, in which 158 critics worldwide voted, ranked the film 30th in their "50 Best Movies of 2023" list and eighth on the Best International Film list. Many critics on RogerEbert.com also included it in their individual listings of the best ten films of 2023. As of 2024, it remains the fourth highest-rated movie of 2023 on Rotten Tomatoes, and maintains the highest certified critical rating for a Godzilla film.

Cinema Today named Godzilla Minus One the best movie released in Japan during 2023 on their "Top 20 Movies" list, the South China Morning Post named it the best Asian film of 2023, and Quad-City Times named it the "best thing anyone put on screen in 2023". Collider listed it as the year's eleventh best film and best Japanese film as well as the 22nd-best film of the 2020s. Deadline listed the film amongst their "Top International Films Of 2023" list; The BBC, Digital Trends, MovieWeb, and TheWrap agreed that it was among the year's best action films; Paste ranked it as the year's third best science fiction movie; and Time Out ranked it the fourteenth best film of 2023. Godzilla Minus One was also added to Eiga.com's list of the 1200 greatest films of all time.

In 2024, the film was ranked second on Variety's list of the best Godzilla movies of all time, third on Vulture's, sixth on IndieWire's, and fourth on Entertainment Weekly's.

Potential sequel

After the film's release, Yamazaki confirmed that no discussions of a sequel had transpired but expressed interest in directing one. He elaborated that if he were to make a second Godzilla film, he would prefer a direct sequel that would see a "continuation of those people's story" and how their lives proceeded after the events of Godzilla Minus One. On other occasions, Yamazaki also mentioned that the next film may feature an antagonizing kaiju for Godzilla to battle and implied that a sequel would explore the curse Godzilla left behind on Japan, similar to the one left behind by the Tatari-gami in Princess Mononoke (1997). Minami Hamabe (who played Noriko) added that the film may be the start of a new series, noting "If there is a next series, I might be the one stepping on and crushing people".

The possibility of a sequel was largely discussed at a stage greeting held after a screening of the black-and-white version of the film in Tokyo on January 12, 2024, which several cast members attended, while Yamazaki attended remotely as he was in the United States at that time. Yamazaki revealed that he wanted the characters to return to the sea once again for the sequel. Yuki Yamada proposed the idea of using Noriko as the key to locating Godzilla since, according to his interpretation, she possesses the monster's "cells". During a February 2024 Q&A with Collider founder Steve Weintraub, Yamazaki announced that he has begun developing his film, but denied that it would be a sequel to Godzilla Minus One. On another occasion, Sakura Ando told Daily Express that she wants her character to encounter Godzilla in a sequel to the film, joking that she would like to be "jumping like this Spider-Man-type woman taking down Godzilla".

Producer Minami Ichikawa believed that Toho would take their time to produce the next live-action Godzilla film since they want "great ideas, an excellent script, a talented director, and the right cast to work on it carefully" because "Godzilla deserves to have that level of intentionality".

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
  • American website
  • United Kingdom website
  • German website Archived November 19, 2023, at the Wayback Machine (in German)
• Godzilla Minus One on the official Godzilla website
• Godzilla Minus One at Toho (in Japanese)
• Godzilla Minus One at IMDb
• Godzilla Minus One at AllMovie

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