The success of Godzilla Minus One in Japan and beyond caused Toho to announce a new film sooner than expected.
Godzilla Minus One was the film of all records. For its 33rd foray with the traditional Japanese studio Toho, The King of the Monsters earned more than $116 million worldwide, becoming at the same time the biggest success of a film Godzilla Japanese.
The result is all the more impressive when we know that the blockbuster was made with a tiny budget, estimated around $15 million. The lesson was massive, especially in Hollywood, where at the same time, certain tentpoles were collecting their teeth with piggy banks exceeding 250, even 300 million dollars.
It is clear that Godzilla Minus One owes a lot to the intelligence of its staging and the clever management of its meager resources. Director Takashi Yamazaki, also director of visual effects, allowed his VFX team to win the Oscar for best special effects in 2024, under the nose of bigger productions like The Creator or Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Building on this solid success, Toho has just made an announcement which should delight fans of the big atomic lizard.
Godzilla Minus Two ?
Indeed, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Godzilla, Toho published a short video on its social networks which is pleasing: the studio has greenlighted the production of a new film Godzilla, still directed and written by Takashi Yamazaki.
No other information has yet been communicated, not even the nature of the feature film. Will it be a sequel to Minus One ? It's very possible. As a reminder, the story returns to the origins of the monster and its metaphorical significance (the end of the Second World War, and the trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). It follows Koichi (Ryūnosuke Kamiki), a suicide bomber deserter who managed to survive a confrontation with the beast, embarking on a quest for redemption. (be careful the rest of the paper spoils the film)
At the end of Minus One, two elements leave a door open to a potential sequel. First of all, Godzilla, whose carcass is crushed by the pressure of the ocean depths into which he was carried, nevertheless begins to regenerate.
Finally, Koichi's girlfriend, Noriko, against all odds, survived Godzilla's attack on the city of Ginza. Koichi finds her at the hospital, but she seems strangely connected to the creature through a black mark on her neck. It remains to be seen whether these elements will be reused, or whether Takashi Yamazaki will allow himself to go in another direction.
