Godzilla Minus One Trivia | 80 facts about the film

“Godzilla Minus One” is a Japanese film starring the well-known kaiju monster.

Let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the film.

1. Godzilla Minus One is a 2023 Japanese kaiju film
2. It is directed, written, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki
3. Produced by Toho Studios and Robot Communications
4. And distributed by Toho
5. It is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise
6. Toho’s 33rd Godzilla film
7. And the fifth film in the franchise’s Reiwa era
8. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki
9. In the film, postwar Japan deals with the emergence of Godzilla
10. After the release of his film The Great War of Archimedes (2019), Yamazaki was selected to make a Godzilla film
11. He subsequently wrote the script over the course of three years
12. Taking influence from the original 1954 Godzilla film and Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
13. The movie is Yamazaki’s third on-screen depiction of Godzilla
14. He had previously used Godzilla through computer-generated imagery in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and Godzilla the Ride (2021) at Seibu-en Amusement Park
15. In February 2022, Robot publicized that Yamazaki was soon to begin directing a kaiju film via a casting call on their website
16. Filming occurred primarily in Kantō and Chūbu from March to June 2022
17. Shirogumi handled the visual effects at their studio in Chōfu from circa April 2022 to May 2023
18. Godzilla Minus One had its premiere screening at the Shinjuku Toho Building on October 18, 2023
19. It was the closing film at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival
20. Toho released it theatrically in Japan on November 3
21. The same day as the first film was released throughout Japan in 1954
22. To celebrate the franchise’s 70th anniversary
23. The film has grossed $35 million against its $15 million budget
24. The film received critical acclaim
25. American critics praised the film’s visual effects, story, characters, social commentary, and compared it favorably with recent Hollywood films
26. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96%
27. Based on 83 reviews
28. With an average score of 8.3/10
29. The site’s consensus reads: “With engaging human stories anchoring the action, Godzilla Minus One is one kaiju movie that remains truly compelling between the scenes of mass destruction”
30. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100
31. Based on 24 critics
32. Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
33. American audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale
34. While those polled by PostTrak gave it a 92% overall positive score
35. With 83% saying they would definitely recommend the film
36. During an interview published in the October 30th issue of Aera, director Takashi Yamazaki stated in regards to the film’s ending: “I think it’s more cinematic if it doesn’t end neatly and properly. It’s not just so a sequel can be made, it’s also so the characters are kept alive in the hearts of the audience”
37. On the film’s opening day, Yamazaki also indicated that he desires to make another Godzilla film, saying: “I wonder if you’ll let me shoot one more picture?”
38. After the release of Toho’s 2016 reboot Shin Godzilla, co-director Shinji Higuchi stated at the American fan convention G-Fest that Toho would not be able to produce another Godzilla film until after 2020
39. This was due to their contract with Legendary Pictures, who were producing their own Godzilla films
40. That forbade Toho from releasing their potential Godzilla films in the same year as Legendary’s films
41. In 2018, Toho executive Keiji Ota revealed that Shin Godzilla would not receive a sequel
42. Ota expressed interest in a potential shared universe Godzilla series akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
43. In 2019, following the release of his film The Great War of Archimedes, renowned filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki was appointed to make a Godzilla film.
44. He began preparing the project and initially spending a year developing the script, however, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the crew to postpone filming for a few years
45. Allowing the script to be rewritten
46. The screenplay was reportedly completed over the course of three years
47. Yamazaki said in an interview for the Japanese magazine Aera that the worldwide anxiety and government unreliability during the pandemic was one of his major inspirations for the story
48. He also expressed that he hopes the movie reflects these events clearly
49. Yamazaki later revealed that he was heavily influenced by Shusuke Kaneko’s Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) while writing the screenplay for Godzilla Minus One
50. He has cited the 2001 film as his favorite Godzilla film
51. He reflected in a discussion with Kaneko at a screening of GMK: “I had forgotten the contents of GMK for a while, but it seems like I self-consciously thought about it when writing the scenario for -1.0. Without realizing it, I was under considerable influence”
52. Yamazaki has stated that Godzilla Minus One was also inspired by the original 1954 Godzilla film, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), and the films of Hayao Miyazaki
53. Godzilla (2014) director Gareth Edwards identified Spielberg’s films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jurassic Park (1993)
54. As well as Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017) as other potential influences on the film
55. Godzilla Minus One marks Yamazaki’s third time working on a production utilizing Godzilla
56. His first being Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) which featured the fictional monster in the film’s dream-like opening
57. During preproduction on Minus One, he also directed and created the effects for Seibu-en Amusement Park’s motion simulator attraction Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021)
58. The design of Godzilla in Minus One is a variation of the one in Godzilla the Ride
59. A novelization of the film written by Yamazaki was published in Japan by Shueisha on November 8, 2023
60. On February 18, 2022, Robot Communications announced the film, under the working title Blockbuster Monster Movie, via a casting call on their official website
61. Robot stated Yamazaki would direct and that the film would be presented by Toho
62. The next day, HuffPost writer Kenji Ando mentioned the conjecture from fans on social media whether the film would be a remake of the 1954 film
63. Toho declared that Yamazaki’s unnamed kaiju project is a Godzilla film on November 3, 2022, at an event celebrating the franchise’s 68th anniversary known as “Godzilla Day”
64. The company also revealed that the film had completed filming and had entered post-production with a targeted release date of November 3, 2023
65. Yamazaki was also named the film’s writer and visual effects supervisor
66. During a press conference on December 13, 2022, Toho’s head of planning Hisashi Usui implied that the new film is connected to the 1954 film
67. Visual effects were handled by Shirogumi at their studio in Chōfu, under the supervision of Yamazaki[30] and direction of Kiyoko Shibuya
68. The team began creating the effects for Godzilla Minus One around April 2022, per the TV Shinshu special about Yamazaki that was released the following year
69. Shirogumi revealed by opening a recruitment call for visual effects designers and compositors in August 2022, that post-production had begun and visual effects were taking place from that same month until January 2023
70. They later changed the dates to between November 2022 and February 2023
71. Their website also stated that the 3D animation software Houdini and Maya would be used to design and Nuke would be used to composite the visual effects
72. Post-production concluded in late May 2023, after the visual effects were finished
73. During an interview alongside Shinji Higuchi (co-director of Shin Godzilla), Yamazaki noted that Godzilla’s scenes of destruction in Minus One were inspired by Higuchi’s effects from Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
74. Directed by the above-mentioned Shusuke Kaneko
75. Yamazaki’s frequent collaborator Naoki Satō scored the film
76. Rambling Records released the film’s soundtrack album, entitled the Godzilla Minus One Original Soundtrack on CD in Japan on October 28, 2023
77. A limited edition vinyl is scheduled to follow on November 24
78. Stock tracks composed by Akira Ifukube for King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) were also used for some scenes in the film
79. Producer Minami Ichikawa offered Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe the leading roles as a married couple in the film
80. Prior to them playing similar roles in the NHK drama series Ranman (2023)