Godzilla Minus One Film Details
Godzilla Minus One (ゴジラ-1.0, 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”.
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. Shirogumi’s Chōfu studio spent eight months creating the film’s visual effects.
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 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. Critics praised its visual effects, direction, screenplay, characters, musical score, and social commentary, with many hailing 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.
STORY
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
- Miou Tanaka as Tatsuo Hotta, captain of the destroyer Yukikaze
- Yuya Endo as Tadamasa Saitō
PRODUCTION
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 a Godzilla film. He began preparing the project and initially spent one year developing the script. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the crew to postpone filming for a few years, leading to the script being rewritten several times over the course of three years.
Godzilla Minus One is Yamazaki’s third time working on a production utilizing Godzilla. His first is Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007), which features the monster in a dream-like opening. During preproduction on Godzilla Minus One, he also 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 mentioning other possible reasons for the title, Yamazaki mentioned that the film takes place before the original 1954 Godzilla film and that it emphasizes the theme of loss throughout.
RELEASE
November 3, 2023
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