Godzilla Minus One facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Godzilla Minus One |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Takashi Yamazaki |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Takashi Yamazaki |
| Visual effects by | Takashi Yamazaki Kiyoko Shibuya |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Naoki Satō |
| Cinematography | Kōzō Shibasaki |
| Editing by | Ryūji Miyajima |
| Studio | Toho Studios Robot Communications |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | October 18, 2023 (Shinjuku Toho Building) November 3, 2023 (Japan) |
| Running time | 125 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $10–12 million |
| Money made | $107 million |
Godzilla Minus One (Japanese: ゴジラ
After finishing his film The Great War of Archimedes (2019), Yamazaki was appointed to make a Godzilla film. He spent three years writing the script, taking influence from Godzilla (1954), Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), Shin Godzilla (2016), and the films of Steven Spielberg and Hayao Miyazaki. Yamazaki previously depicted Godzilla in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and a 2021 amusement park ride at Seibu-en. In February 2022, Robot publicized that Yamazaki would soon begin directing a kaiju film. Filming occurred primarily in Kantō and Chūbu from March to June 2022. The visual effects were created by Shirogumi's Chōfu studio over eight months.
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 has grossed over $107 million worldwide against an estimated $10–12 million budget, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2023 and surpassing Shin Godzilla as the most successful Japanese Godzilla film. It received critical acclaim abroad for its visual effects, direction, story, characters, musical score, and social commentary, and was hailed as one of the best films of 2023, and one of the greatest in the Godzilla franchise. The film also attained numerous accolades, including 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, making it the first Godzilla movie to win an Oscar, as well as the first Japanese and overall non-English language film to win Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.
Contents
Cast
- Ryunosuke Kamiki as Kōichi Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot
- Minami Hamabe as Noriko Ōishi, Shikishima's girlfriend
- Yuki Yamada as Shirō Mizushima, a young crewman aboard the Shinsei Maru
- Munetaka Aoki as Sōsaku Tachibana, former Navy Air Service technician
- Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda, a former Naval weapons engineer
- Sakura Ando as Sumiko Ōta, Shikishima's neighbor
- Kuranosuke Sasaki as Yōji Akitsu, captain of the Shinsei Maru
- Sae Nagatani as Akiko, Ōishi and Shikishima's adopted daughter
- Mio Tanaka as Tatsuo Hotta, captain of the destroyer Yukikaze
- Yuya Endo as Tadamasa Saitō
The cast listing is sourced from Kinema Junpo.
Production
Crew
- Takashi Yamazaki – director, writer, visual effects supervisor
- Kiyoko Shibuya – visual effects director
- Kōhei Adachi – assistant director
- Nariyuki Ueda – lighting
- Anri Jojo – art director
- Masahiro Ishiyama – colorist
- Shō Funahashi – co-visual effects director
- Masaki Takahashi – CG director
- Tatsuji Nojima – compositor and ocean effects creator
- Kosuke Taguchi – Godzilla modeler
- Hisashi Takeuchi – sound recording
- Natsuko Inoue – sound effects
Personnel are taken from Kinema Junpo and CGWORLD.
Release
Theatrical
Godzilla Minus One had its red carpet and worldwide premiere at Toho Cinemas' theater inside the Shinjuku Toho Building on October 18, 2023. First responses praised the film as a "masterpiece". 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 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 cinemas screened the film with English-subtitled on November 23.
The American red carpet premiere and screening was at the Directors Guild of America 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 throughout the U.S. the next day. Toho's American subsidiary Toho International released it in the United States with English subtitles on December 1, making it their first theatrical stateside self-distribution. Although it initially opened in 2,308 American theaters with the intention of being shown for only a week, the film was extended to over 2,600 theaters on December 15 and remained in U.S. theaters for months due to its popularity and positive reviews. The film concluded its U.S. run on February 1, 2024, supposedly because of Toho and Legendary Entertainment's contract on the Godzilla character and since Legendary's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is set for release eight weeks later. However, as part of Collider and Landmark Theatres' FYC screening series, the film was shown at the Landmark Theatres Sunset in Los Angeles on February 19, featuring a Q&A with Yamazaki afterwards.
The film was released in other Western countries on December 1. 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. The New Zealand premiere was on November 22, in Queen Street, Auckland. Sato Company released it in Brazil on December 14, 2023, while Anime Limited released it in the United Kingdom and Ireland on December 15.
The film did not release theatrically in Southeast Asia, with Toho reportedly having "no plans" to release the film in that region.
Black-and-white edition
Toho released a black-and-white version of the film, titled Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color (ゴジラ
Godzilla Minus One colorist Masahiro Ishiyama was assigned to create Minus Color. Yamazaki proposed that Godzilla's atomic breath 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 red 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. At the 96th Academy Awards, Yamazaki and the visual effects team paid tribute to Abe, saying he was "lost too soon".
Home media
On March 4, 2024, it was announced that Godzilla Minus One is slated to be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, regular Blu-ray and DVD formats in Japan on May 1. The Ultra HD Blu-ray was revealed as a "deluxe edition" with both the color and black-and-white versions and multiple bonus features; Yamazaki had previously teased the possibility of a "version that has everything, like the super duper deluxe version" when asked if the potential home video release would include both theatrical editions of the film. Forbes reported on March 8 that a UHD box set of the film is also set to be released in the United States.
Legacy
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, 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 television series Shōgun (2024). Additionally, Collider claimed that the film "helped the Godzilla series become more popular than ever before".
Potential sequel
If I were to direct the next Godzilla movie, I would like to do a sequel to this one. There have been two standalone Godzilla films in a row now, so perhaps the next one will need to feature a villain monster.
Director Takashi Yamazaki has confirmed that no discussions of a sequel have 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 has also mention 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 Ōishi) 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 presently in the United States. 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".
Regarding a sequel, Yamazaki expressed to Empire: "I would certainly like to see what the sequel would look like. I know that Shikishima’s war seems over, and we’ve reached this state of peace and calm – but perhaps [it's the] calm before the storm, and the characters have not yet been forgiven for what has been imposed upon them." He also noted that "I don't know that anyone has pulled off a more serious tone of kaiju-versus-kaiju with human drama, and that challenge is something that I’d like to explore".
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. In regards to the possibility of making a sequel afterward, he added: "Hypothetically, if there is a Godzilla sequel, then I would like to date it with how long it’s been in our timeline as to what the characters have gone through. So, if we film it three years from now, I would set it three years from Godzilla Minus One. And I hope that by then Akiko has worked on her acting a little bit."
Producer Minami Ichikawa believed that Toho would take their time to produce the next live-action Godzilla film: "Good films are all about quality. We want great ideas, an excellent script, a talented director, and the right cast to work on it carefully. Godzilla deserves to have that level of intentionality."
See also
In Spanish: Godzilla Minus One para niños
