The Title, Teaser Trailer & U.S. Release Date For Toho’s New Godzilla Movie Have Been Revealed
July 2023 has been an awesome month for Godzilla fans!
Not only did Pluto TV launch an all-Godzilla channel on July 1, but on July 11, Toho Studios revealed the title of its new feature film starring the King of the Monsters — the first domestic Japanese production starring the beloved radioactive reptile since 2016’s Shin Godzilla.
The big guy will return to the big screen in Godzilla Minus One, which will make its debut in Japan on Nov. 3, 2023 — 69 years (nice) to the day since the original Gojira premiered there in 1954.
U.S. fans won’t have to wait very long after that to see G in action. Godzilla Minus One will reach American shores on Dec. 1, 2023, in theaters nationwide.
Along with the date announcements, Toho released a roughly 30-second teaser for the movie, which looks intense just from its brief moments. It shows how an already devastated postwar Japan finds itself facing a new threat in the form of Godzilla.
As we see quick pans across scenes of rubble and completely ruined cities, the ominous sound of approaching, gigantic footsteps is heard, and a message then reads: “From Zero to Minus,” before Godzilla enters frame with a bit of his iconic roar and an extreme close-up, looking meaner than ever as a terrified populace begins to flee amid chaos and screaming.
The short look at Godzilla in the teaser appears to have been created via CGI, and it hasn’t been unusual for Toho Godzilla films in modern decades to combine a bit of computer effects with the classic “man-in-the-suit” technique (albeit with the suits being much more advanced than the old-school ones).
This Godzilla, too — again, from just a quick peek — bears some resemblance to the one that has been seen in the recent American films from Legendary Pictures, starting with 2014’s Godzilla, and continuing with 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong and the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024).
Remind Those films, distributed by Warner Bros. in the U.S., were distributed by Toho in Japan, so perhaps they are trying to establish some continuity in the way Godzilla looks among both franchises? Perhaps that explains why Godzilla Minus One is set in postwar Japan.
Whatever the case, it will just be great to see and hear Godzilla on the big screen once again in a Toho release!
Godzilla Minus One premieres in U.S. theaters Friday, Dec. 1, 2023.