While the American-made Godzilla movies are still in progress, Kaiju pioneers Toho are ensuring the King of the Monsters still has a theatrical stomping in 2023 — and ever since the Godzilla Minus One news broke there’s been huge anticipation. Toho International is the original Godzilla movie-making studio, creating the first Gojira movie in 1954. Godzilla Minus One is the 33rd movie in the franchise from Toho, and their first live-action movie since Shin Godzilla in 2016. However, there were three animated Godzilla movies from the company that went straight to Netflix.
Godzilla Minus One takes place in a world that already suffered through the destructive tendencies of Godzilla, with Tokyo in ruins. Toho promises to bring back the destructive and monstrous Godzilla from its past movies rather than the more sympathetic version shown in the MonsterVerse movies from American studios. The movie is also not a direct sequel to any specific movie from the past, but does share a slight continuity with the animated trilogy of movies that aired on Netflix, as well as 2016’s Shin Godzilla. With that in mind, the Godzilla Minus One news indicates the wait is short for fans wanting to see the Japanese version of Godzilla once again.
The Latest Godzilla Minus One News
The most recent Godzilla Minus One news comes in the form of a new trailer for the 2023 Kaiju movie. The first Godzilla Minus One trailer is short, at under a minute, but it shows a lot about what people can expect from the new Godzilla movie from Toho. Godzilla Minus One’s trailer starts off with Tokyo devastated and war-torn, a scene akin to the aftermath of a nuclear warhead. This has nothing to do with the Atomic Bomb, though. This was from a Godzilla attack, and there is a sign with radiation warnings and giant craters that are likely Godzilla’s footprints. Then Godzilla attacks — the ground breaks, buildings fall, and the monster roars into town as people run in fear. In short, the trailer proves that Toho are delivering on their promise of a more classic Godzilla Kaiju movie with Godzilla Minus One.
The Godzilla Minus One trailer has been supplemented with announcement tweets from the official Toho Godzilla Twitter account.
Godzilla Minus One Release Date
The Godzilla Minus One release date has been announced, and it will hit theaters in the United States on December 1, 2023. This is the first Toho Godzilla movie released in theaters since Shin Godzilla, which arrived in July 2016. Since then, there were three animated Godzilla movies launching on Netflix. Other than Toho, Warner Bros. released an American movie in the franchise in 2019 with Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and followed that up with Godzilla vs. Kong in 2021. On top of the new Toho Godzilla Minus One movie, Warner still has another movie coming in 2024, with Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Godzilla Minus One Cast
There is no word yet on who will be in the Godzilla Minus One cast yet. Behind the camera, Takashi Yamazaki directs the movie. This is his first Godzilla movie, but he previously won Director of the Year and Screenplay of the Year at the Japanese Academy Film Prize in 2006 for Always: Sunset on Third Street. That was a drama film, but he has also worked on big action movies, directing the sci-fi action movies Parasyte: Part 1 and Parasyte: Part 2, as well as the CGI anime Dragon Quest: Your Story. Other than Yamazaki, who also wrote the screenplay and oversaw the visual effects, there are no other names publicly attached to the movie.
Godzilla Minus One Story Details
There is almost no Godzilla Minus One news concerning the storyline, the monster’s origin, or why he is attacking Tokyo. The trailer for Godzilla Minus One shows that Tokyo is “war-torn” and that Godzilla has destroyed almost everything, and he isn’t finished yet. It also takes place after World War II, when the rest of Japan was still reeling from the Atomic Bomb that ended the conflict. “The concept is that Japan, which had already been devastated by the war, faces a new threat with Godzilla, bringing the country into the ‘minus’,” said President of Toho International Koji Ueda (via Forbes).
Outside of that, the only thing known about the new movie is the differences between this version of Godzilla and the past versions from Toho. First, this is nothing like the American version of Godzilla from the MonsterVerse, and it also looks like it will be a departure from the last live-action Toho movie, Shin Godzilla, which hit in 2016.
The design seen in the Godzilla Minus One trailer shows that this version looks nothing like the one in Shin Godzilla. That 2016 release had Godzilla look more grotesque than his previous iterations. This new movie looks a little more like the traditional Gojira from the Toho universe. The monster still looks different and unique, although his dorsal fins resemble the Toho Millennium era redesign from Godzilla 2000. While the creature looks different, it appears that the story will realign with Godzilla rampaging through a city unable to stop him and move away from the battles with other monsters that many Godzilla movies delved into.
Godzilla Minus One Trailer
The new Godzilla Minus One trailer starts off with what looks like a post-war Japan, and then a headline shows that is exactly what happened. This movie takes place following World War II, but this was not caused by the Atomic Bomb. The setting is Tokyo, and “Japan had lost everything” in its battle with Godzilla. Things only got worse, because Godzilla was back and was ready to destroy what was left standing. The trailer then shows several shots of people running for their lives while the ground breaks open, buildings fall, and a train car gets thrown. It ends with the defining shot that fully establishes the tone of the next Toho Godzilla movie — Godzilla roaring into the screen with a Godzilla Minus One text overlay title reveal.