This is a bounteous time for kaiju fans. Not only is Apple’s MonsterVerse series Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters expected to start streaming before the end of the year, followed in 2024 by Adam Wingard’s monster-mashup sequel Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, but there’s also a fresh film on the way from Toho. Japan’s Godzilla Minus One is arriving in the coming months, marking the nation’s first live-action big-screen Godzilla film since 2016’s acclaimed Shin Godzilla. This one is set in postwar Japan, placing itself in a similar geopolitical context to the original 1954 film – though, it looks like it might take place even earlier than the mid-‘50s (which would certainly chime with the Minus One title). Check out the trailer here:
From filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, this one looks to be a stark, serious take on Godzilla, imagined once more as a manifestation of the nuclear terror that shook Japan at the end of World War II. The Godzilla Minus One trailer gives us plenty of shots of devastated cities and people terrified by the sheer destructive power of the marauding entity, while the synopsis places it in “the most desperate situation in the history of Japan”. “After the war, Japan has been reduced to zero,” it reads. “Godzilla appears and plunges the country into a negative state.” The film has been produced in part to mark 70 years of cinema’s greatest monster, and it’s set to open in Japan on 3 November.
Toho is set to distribute Godzilla Minus One in America shortly after on 1 December – but for now, there doesn’t seem to be a UK release date set. Fingers crossed, we won’t be waiting long for what seems like another powerful take on the legendary creature. Either way, with Monarch and Godzilla X Kong to come, kaiju fans are about to be very well-fed.