Toho Studios and Robot have teamed up to bring us the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise, Godzilla Minus One. This upcoming Japanese kaiju film is directed, written, and features the visual effects of Takashi Yamazaki.
“After the war, Japan’s economic state has been reduced to zero. Godzilla appears and plunges the country into a negative state.”
— Toho Co., Ltd.
“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.”
—Takashi Yamazaki (director/screenwriter/visual effects supervisor)
Godzilla Minus One is scheduled to premiere at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, 2023, where it will serve as the closing film. Toho will release the film theatrically in Japan on November 3 to celebrate the franchise’s 70th anniversary. Toho’s American subsidiary, Toho International, will release it nationwide in the United States on December 1.
Toho previously distributed a reboot of their long-running Godzilla franchise in 2016 entitled Shin Godzilla. It won several awards at the 40th Japan Academy Film Prize and became Toho’s highest-grossing film in the franchise. In 2018, Toho revealed that Shin Godzilla would not receive a sequel and that they plan to create a new shared universe for the Godzilla series. Godzilla Minus One serves as the basis for this shared universe.
Godzilla Minus One is the culmination of all the films that Yamazaki has made to date. He describes the film as the most terrifying Godzilla yet and hopes that people will experience it rather than just watch it in theaters.