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 Minus One" Continues To Thrill

Godzilla Minus One continues to dazzle and thrill movie fans. 

It opened last weekend on Netflix with no fanfare but with strong word-of-mouth. It climbed up to the number one position in Netflix's top ten movies. 

The keys to its success can be summed up to three things: good story, good acting and great [Oscar-winning] special effects.

The next hurdle for Godzilla Minus One is a U.S. DVD/Blu-Ray release. Thus far, no announcement for a DVD/Blu-Ray has been announced, although it has already been released in these formats in Japan months ago.

Some who wonder what the "Minus One" means, here's what The Guardian says:

Godzilla Minus One is not a sequel to Shin Godzilla, or even a direct sequel to the 1954 original that started it all; it jumps back even further, beginning at the end of the second world war, telling the story of a guilt-ridden kamikaze pilot who abandons his pointlessly self-sacrificing “duty” and then further survives an attack from a nascent, more dinosaur-sized Godzilla. He unexpectedly gets a rematch with the creature when an evolved version re-emerges to menace a devastated post-war Tokyo. (The film’s title derives from this devastation: if the second world war brought Japan back to zero, the conceit is, then a subsequent Godzilla attack will knock it back to “minus one”.)

It will be interesting to see if Toho can top Godzilla Minus One when they produce the next entry in their franchise. 

"Godzilla Minus One" Nearly Missed Its Shot At An Oscar

Above, the Godzilla statue at the main entrance to Toho Studios outside of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Here's something interesting.

Toho Co., Ltd. President Hiroyasu Matsuoka did not want to submit Godzilla Minus One for Academy Awards consideration for special effects at first.

He later changed his mind when he learned about something of the nomination process. He's now glad he changed his mind.

Comicbook.com posted an article about this tidbit.

It begins with:

It may have taken 70 years, but at last, Godzilla has taken on the Academy Awards and won. Over the weekend, fans watched as Godzilla Minus One took home a well-deserved Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The award marks a first for the Godzilla IP as the kaiju has never been honored by The Academy Awards before. And in a recent interview, the president of Toho Company admits he almost kept Godzilla Minus One from the awards entirely.

The confession comes from Nikkei as Hiroyasu Matsuoka sat down to chat about Godzilla Minus One. It was there the president of Toho Company admitted he did not want to even submit the movie for nomination to the Oscars.

"Let's not enter a nomination application for Best Visual Effects, it's just not possible. The cost of visual effects for Godzilla Minus One is an order of magnitude different from that of a Hollywood blockbuster. I didn't think it was even possible," he shared.

To read the full article, go here. 

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!

 

"Godzilla Minus One" Becomes First Godzilla Film Ever Nominated For An Oscar

Finally, after decades of derision of Japanese special effects, Toho Co., Ltd.'s special effects department is getting some respect from Hollywood.

Godzilla Minus One has been nominated for Best Special Effects by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences.

Paste Magazine reported:

Chalk up another city destroyed, and another major accomplishment for the King of the Monsters: For the first time in his 70-year history, Godzilla can claim to be an Academy Award nominee. As part of the newly announced nominations for the 2024 Oscars ceremony, the critically acclaimed Godzilla Minus One has been given a nod that no other Godzilla film has ever received, with a nomination in the Best Visual Effects category. The listed nominees for the film are Takashi Yamakazi, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Tatsuji Nojima. It will be up against some difficult competition in the category, in the form of The Creator, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Napoleon and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

Regardless, this is a pretty big moment for the Godzilla fandom, accustomed as they are to the series receiving popular adulation over the decades but little critical evaluation, other than belated admiration for the 1954 original from director Ishirō Honda. It is perhaps fitting that Godzilla Minus One take up the torch for the series’ prestige going forward, considering that of all the many Gojira sequels, it feels the most like a direct continuation of Honda’s film, taking place in a devastated postwar Japan where the appearance of Godzilla forces the population to come together in the spirit of neighborly camaraderie. The film has been universally acclaimed, and places extremely highly in our own ranking of the entire Godzilla film series to date.

To read more, go here. 

Win or lose, Congratulations, Toho!

The Oscars: Nope, I Didn't Watch

Above, John Wayne's Oscar for True Grit on display at John Wayne: An
American Experience in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Oh, were the Academy Awards on last night?

That's been my general attitude over the past 20 years or so. I used to enjoy watching them, but when Hollywood decided to go to the far left, I decided that I wouldn't bother subjecting myself to a bunch of know-nothings spew their leftist drivel and get aggravated.

Besides, the real stars (my favorites) are long gone. The stars from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are either dead or retired and close to it (well, Clint Eastwood is the sole exception). None of the "stars" of today could not entice me to bother walking across the street to take a peek at them. They're a dime a dozen and from the same cookie-cutter.

According to Sean Hannity, many others have the same attitude. The ratings for last night's Oscars plunged 58% from last year. Only 9.85 million people watched.

Hannity posted the numbers drop since 1991, which coincides with my interest drop:

**USA to HOLLYWOOD: 'No Thanks!'**

Viewers in 1991: 42 million

Viewers in 2001: 43 million

Viewers in 2011: 38 million

Viewers in 2021: 9.8 million

So, it's another year without bothering to watch for myself and a big bunch of other people.

Hollywood only has itself to blame.