"Godzilla Minus Zero" Getting Worldwide IMAX Release

For those who are Godzilla fans as well as also being IMAX fans, a big treat is coming this fall.

Godzilla Minus Zero will be seeing a worldwide IMAX release.

According to JoBlo: 

One of the biggest surprises in recent years was the impact Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One made worldwide. I think it was tempting for non-Godzilla devotees to write it off as just another Godzilla movie (although the faithful would wonder what exactly is wrong with that), but it ended up being perhaps the greatest installment of the franchise to date. It earned critical raves (with even Steven Spielberg hailing it), and the box office was outstanding, grossing a huge $57 million in North America. It also won a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, beating out movies with budgets that eclipsed it by hundreds of millions. As such, the sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero, is a major event.

Befitting how anticipated the movie is, word leaked today that Toho and their North American subsidiary, GKIDS, are giving the film a global IMAX release. Godzilla Minus One came out on IMAX screens in Japan and eventually played a limited run in North America in that format, but it looks like it will be getting a more robust IMAX release right off the bat. It hits North American theaters on November 6th, which is only three days after its Japanese release.

To read more, go here. 

Toho Steps Out Into the World With New Confidence

Above, Toho Studios in the Setagaya section of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Two years ago, Godzilla Minus One won an Academy Award for Special Effects, the first Japanese movie to accomplish this.

Toho Co., Ltd. is hoping that lightning will strike twice as they are pushing for another Academy Award. They are doing so with new confidence this time. 

According to Nikkei Asia:

TOKYO -- The COVID pandemic may be long over but Americans have yet to resume going to the movies nearly as often as they used to. Could a three-hour, subtitled, behind-the-scenes drama about the careers of two Kabuki actors turn things around?

Hiroyasu Matsuoka thinks it is worth a shot. Toho, the Japanese entertainment and real estate company he heads, put on a week of showings of "Kokuho," Japan's most popular local live-action movie in decades, in Los Angeles and New York in November ahead of a planned general release next month that is to reach at least 100 screens across North America.

Virtually every one of the November screenings sold out. Actor Tom Cruise kicked off one Los Angeles showing by telling the audience, "This is a very, very special movie, and one that you must see on the big screen."

Next week, Matsuoka and Toho will learn whether "Kokuho," Japan's official nominee, has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for best international feature film. Two years ago, he and the company celebrated "Godzilla Minus One" becoming the first Japanese movie to win the Oscar for best visual effects.

To read more, go here. 

Godzilla's Legendary Comeback

Above, the Godzilla statue at Toho Studios in Setagaya. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It is remarkable that Godzilla is as popular, if not more so, than ever these days.

This can be attributed to the Legendary Pictures series of movies and of Toho's recent movies, one of which won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects.

MSN has posted an article on Godzilla's legendary (a pun?) comeback.

It begins with:

At one time, the Godzilla franchise seemed like outdated science fiction with limited future cinematic prospects. Not only did Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse change those perceptions, but Toho’s Godzilla Minus One proved the 50-meter-tall radioactive dinosaur could deliver an Oscar-worthy performance. Toho recently announced a sequel to Minus One, demonstrating that an “old, outdated” subgenre can still score big - a $116 million global gross on a $15 million budget - in international theaters. 

To read more, go here. 

Godzilla Going Green

Above, the Godzilla mural at Toho Studios in Setagaya. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Godzilla is going green.

Well, not exactly. But the Big G's atomic breath is green in color in a new video by Toho honoring fans and celebrating the 70th anniversary.

According to Bloody Disgusting:

For over 70 years, Godzilla has captivated the world. And now, a new roar echoes louder than ever.

Toho is honoring the fans who have kept the legacy alive with a video of the King of the Monster stomping through Southeast Asia. The fresh take on Godzilla features an updated design, a new roar, and green atomic breath!

“Thank you for 70 years of love, memories, and passion,” writes Toho. “Witness the rise. Hear the roar. The legend reigns.”

Here's the video:

A follow-up movie to the Academy Award-winning Godzilla Minus One is currently in pre-production with Takashi Yamazaki writing the script.

To read more, go here.

"Godzilla Minus One" Blu-ray Arrived

The Blu-ray of Godzilla Minus One arrived in today's mail. I didn't expect it until Friday, but I'm not complaining.

It is a two-disc set with the movie in one disc and special features in the other.

I have watched some of the special features. The first one was the behind-the-scenes making of the movie. It was interesting to watch thanks to the director (our old friend Yoshikazu Ishii). Other features include: Commemorative Special Feature: Godzilla Minus One - No. 30, VFX Behind The Scenes, Event Video Collection, Tokyo International Film Festival Opening Red Carpet, Event Video Collection, Academy Awards Winner Additional Screening Trailer and Takashi Yamazaki Selection Talk Shows. Definitely lots of interesting stuff!

Above, Jonathan Bellés, Yoshikazu Ishii and yours truly in Tokyo
 in 2014. Ishii-san directed the Behind the Scenes special feature.

I will watch the movie over dinner tonight.

"Godzilla Minus One" Re-Release November 1

For those who have missed the initial run of Godzilla Minus One or want to see it again, here's your chance to see it on the big screen. Yes, it's the Toho feature that garnered an Academy Award for Best Special Effects.

It will be re-released to U.S. theaters November 1.

Here's the re-release trailer:

The Win of "Godzilla Minus One"

 

"Congratulations to Coach Yamato and all the white team 🎉

Very happy to see 70 years.

I'm sure my sister and dad are surprised.

You're saying, "See you Godzilla."" - Sonoe Nakajima, daughter of suit-actor Haruo Nakajima.*

It took 70 years, but Godzilla finally got some respect in special effects.

The win of Godzilla Minus One for Best Special Effects last night at the Academy Awards had many Godzilla fans in tears of joy when the winner was announced. Fans were just as pleased when the movie was even nominated, but the win was much more than the icing on the cake. 

Godzilla movies from Toho were often laughed at, although entertaining, during the man-in-the-suit with miniatures years. Toho shifted gears and joined the U.S. in using CGI. That has paid off in spades as last night's Academy Awards has shown.

Although Toho's Godzilla is now being animated with computers, I was even more impressed with the recreations of Tokyo of the 1940s. Apparently, Academy members agreed. Taken as a whole, the special effects were astounding considering the $15 million total movie budget and only 35 members on the special effects team.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

The King of Monsters finally has his share of Oscars glory.

In an ironic triumph of small over large, Japanese monster movie sensation Godzilla Minus One — which was made for only about $15 million — beat out four big-budget Hollywood tentpoles to win the best visual effects category. It’s the first time in decades that a non-U.S. studio film has won the category. Despite its deep influence on the history of visual effects in cinema, this year was the first time in the Godzilla franchise’s seven-decade history that it was nominated for an Oscar.

Godzilla Minus One was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who also headed up the film’s VFX team, which included Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima. The team is now Japan’s first-ever winner of the best visual effects Oscar. In another rarity, a director winning the category has only occurred once before — Stanley Kubrick’s win in 1969 for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Godzilla Minus One has been a critical and commercial sensation, earning $56.4 million in the U.S. and Canada to become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. Only two international live-action movies — fellow Oscar winners Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life Is Beautiful —  earned more in North America.

Many fans exclaimed, "I never thought I would live to see this day." I would have to agree, especially since I am the same age as Godzilla since we both arrived on the scene in 1954.

To read more, go here.

*I think Sonoe Nakajima meant Coach Yamazaki and the translation goofed it up.

CONGRATS TO THE "GODZILLA MINUS ONE" SPECIAL EFFECTS TEAM!

 

50 Years of "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection"

Back in 1971, two cop movies were released in the last quarter of the year.

One was The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman and directed by William Friedkin. The other was Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel.

One of them won Academy Awards for best picture, best actor and best director while the other didn't get any nomination. One is still often talked about among movie fans and the other is rarely mentioned. Gene Hackman is better known as Lex Luthor in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies than as Popeye Doyle of The French Connection. Eastwood is still strongly associated as Harry Callahan.

The one that won the Academy Awards is the one rarely mentioned and the other that didn't hasn't lost its popularity. 

I saw both movies back when they were released and of the two, I found Dirty Harry a much more enjoyable movie. I don't even remember much of The French Connection. I still feel that Dirty Harry is the more fun and thought-provoking movie of the two.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of both Dirty Harry and The French Connection. I was in my senior year in high school when they were released. 

Interestingly, the two main actors of those movies, Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood co-starred in The Unforgiven (1992), the movie that garnered Eastwood and Hackman Academy Awards. It won Best Picture and Best Director for Clint Eastwood, Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman, and Best Film Editing for editor Joel Cox.

"Godzilla vs. Kong" Makes Oscars Shortlist

Godzilla in Japan by Toho Co., Ltd. has garnered some Japanese film awards over the years and maybe the upcoming Academy Awards in Hollywood might spring a surprise for kaiju fans.

ComicBook.com reported that Godzilla vs. Kong is on the Oscar shortlist. 

They wrote:

Godzilla Vs. Kong is on the shortlist for movies nominated for "Best Visual Effects" for the 94th Academy Awards, though it does have some major competition when it comes to some of the other films that dropped in 2021.

It would be very interesting if the movie does get a nomination and, if it does, wins.

To read more, go here.