Copyright Variety
Toho has officially revealed the title of its next “Godzilla” feature: “Godzilla -0.0” (Godzilla Minus Zero). The announcement was made at the annual Godzilla Fest in Tokyo and confirmed via Toho’s official X account. The film will once again be written, directed and supervised for VFX by Yamazaki Takashi, with VFX work by Shirogumi and production handled by Toho Studios and Robot, the same team behind 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One.” Toho Co., Ltd. will produce and distribute. A new “Godzilla” film was teased almost exactly a year ago. Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus One” became a landmark hit for the franchise. Released in Japan in November 2023, it grossed more than JPY7.65 billion ($50 million) locally, making it the top-earning live-action Japanese Godzilla film in history. In North America, it earned $56 million, making it the highest grossing Japanese-language live-action film of all time. The film later made history at the 96th Academy Awards, where it won the Oscar for best visual effects — the first “Godzilla” film ever nominated for an Academy Award and the first Japanese feature to win in that category. The franchise began in 1954 with Ishirō Honda’s “Godzilla,” a grim allegory for nuclear devastation that introduced audiences to the radioactive reptile who would become Japan’s most enduring pop-culture export. Since then, Toho has produced 33 live-action “Godzilla” films across multiple eras — the Showa, Heisei, Millennium, and now Reiwa — while American studios have released five additional titles, including Legendary’s MonsterVerse. Set in Japan after World War II, “Godzilla Minus One” starred Kamiki Ryunosuke as Shikishima Koichi, a former kamikaze pilot who survives an almost fatal encounter with Godzilla and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. When the massive beast reappears years later, a group of soldiers and veterans must band together to defeat the monster before it can destroy Japan. The cast also includes Hamabe Minami, Yamada Yuki, Aoki Munetaka, Yoshioka Hidetaka, Ando Sakura, and Sasaki Kuranosuke.
