Godzilla has been a fixture of popular culture since the monster’s 1954 debut, but the series has not traditionally been treated as prestige cinema. That perception began to shift with Toho’s 2016 reboot, Shin Godzilla, and grew substantially after Godzilla Minus One became a critical and commercial success.
Shin Godzilla, directed by Hideaki Anno, reimagined the monster film through a story shaped by bureaucratic responses to disaster and elements of cosmic horror. In 2023, Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One reached an even broader audience. It became the highest-grossing Japanese-language release in U.S. history and earned the franchise its first Academy Award, for visual effects. The film also drew public praise from directors including Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro and Bong Joon-ho.
That success raised expectations for Godzilla Minus Zero, which arrives in theaters this weekend. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival last month, where artistic director Dennis Lim praised Yamazaki’s approach to visual effects and genre filmmaking. Its action includes an extended opening sequence of destruction and a confrontation involving Godzilla’s longtime foe, the three-headed Ghidorah. The article also describes the film as the first Japanese movie shot for IMAX.
Unlike most entries in the franchise, Minus Zero is a direct sequel to Minus One. The review finds that Godzilla appears relatively late and has a limited role, while much of the story returns to the human characters from the previous film. It also notes that the sequel’s first reviews have been less enthusiastic than those for Minus One.
The films’ recurring destruction of Tokyo’s Ginza district is another part of Godzilla’s long history. The 1954 original damaged the Nichigeki Theater, and later movies returned to the area, including Minus One, which recreated the theater before destroying it on screen. Minus Zero revisits the site, prompting one character to call Ginza a battlefield again.
Outside the movies, Godzilla has become part of the district’s public image. Ahead of the Japanese premiere of Minus Zero, puppets of the monster appeared in a display at the Yurakucho Mullion building. Nearby, a pastry shop is selling a Christmas cake modeled on Ginza’s Wako Clock Tower, with Godzilla looming over it. The area also has a Godzilla statue, a plaque urging people to coexist with the monster, and a Toho store stocked with franchise merchandise.
The contrast between cinematic destruction and Godzilla memorabilia helps explain the series’ staying power. Even as Minus Zero faces the challenge of following an acclaimed predecessor, the franchise’s popularity and newly elevated critical profile show little sign of fading.
Sources: GQ.