When Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One released internationally in 2023, it was met with widespread acclaim, became an unexpected box office juggernaut, and even won an Academy Award. This was entirely unprecedented territory for a Godzilla movie, a franchise that had long been treated as the butt of a joke by the high-minded folks within such circles, despite the fact that many, if not most, of the entries in the Toho series over the decades absolutely rule (special shout-out to Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, one of the most insanely enjoyable midnight movies ever).
But given this unanimous praise and success and the fact that Godzilla Minus One ended on a cliffhanger; it became less a question of if there would be a follow-up to the film and more a question of what a potential sequel could look like. Now, with the release of its first full-length trailer, audiences have gotten their first proper taste of what Yamazaki and co. have cooked up for their highly-anticipated sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero. And as it turns out, the new film is following in the footsteps of the franchise’s time-tested traditions by introducing another iconic Toho monster for this iteration of Godzilla to square off against.
Godzilla Minus One was something of a prequel, something of a reboot, and something of a remake of the original Ishirō Honda-directed 1954 film, Godzilla. After years of lighter-toned fare and monster mash-ups, Godzilla Minus One took things back, both literally and tonally. The film’s story is set in Japan in 1947, just after the conclusion of World War II, and has much more in common from a thematic and tonal perspective with Honda’s original film than it does with any of the latter-day follow-ups.
Yamazaki ended with various factions of civilians and government officials teaming up to seemingly destroy Godzilla, but not without teasing that the character was far from officially gone, thanks to his regenerative abilities. The trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero confirms that, yes, Godzilla is very much back (surprise!) but that he is also going to be fighting far more than just the people of Japan this time around; he’ll also be coming toe-to-toe with King Ghidorah.
While the challenger to the title “King of the Monsters” is not actually seen in the trailer, his presence is felt, most especially late in the trailer’s run when his iconic Toho-era roar is heard from off-screen. This is great in a couple of different ways. For one, it means that the team has taken a similar approach to Ghidorah as they did with Godzilla, incorporating many of the original design choices, from both a sound and visual perspective. Godzilla sounds like the original recipe for Godzilla in Minus One, just beefed up, and the same can very much be said for him in the trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero. Ghidorah’s screeching roar is very much the same, and that rules. But also, by utilizing this sound cue, it keeps the character’s presence a mystery from those not necessarily in the know and preserves the surprise of his actual visual design within this film. Very cool stuff.
All in all, Godzilla Minus One featured some thrilling and expansive action sequences, and I am thrilled to see how Yamazaki and co. go about staging and animating such clashes with their bigger budget and IMAX canvas. The trailer does a stellar job of selling you on the IMAX difference by literally stretching to the new aspect ratio midway through, and yeah, the mission is very much accomplished. I’ll be there in IMAX opening night, ready to see Godzilla throw down.
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