TOHO Announces New ‘Godzilla Minus One’ Sequel From Takashi Yamazaki

With Godzilla Minus One re-released in theaters this weekend to celebrate Godzilla Day and the franchise’s 70th anniversary, TOHO announced today that writer-director-VFX supervisor Takashi Yamazaki will make the studio’s next Godzilla film.

Godzilla Makes History

There is no word yet on whether this will be a direct sequel to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, or a brand new standalone film. Recent releases from Toho have been unique re-imaginings of the monster and series, but Yamazaki-san’s film ends in a way that certain sets up a sequel. And of course, audiences and fans of the franchise have been vocal about wanting a follow-up.

This weekend’s re-release is significant not merely for Godzilla Day and the anniversary itself, but also because it could help the film change box office history once again.

As I explained ahead of the re-release, Godzilla Minus One is a mere $828,600 to pass Life Is Beautiful as the second-highest grossing foreign language movie in U.S. history. The film is already TOHO’s biggest Godzilla film worldwide and the most successful Japanese live-action North American release of all time.

Audiences Want More Godzilla

I’ve been very open about how much I love Godzilla Minus One — it’s not just one of the greatest movies of 2023, and not just the best Godzilla movie and giant monster movie ever made, it’s a personal all-time favorite for me. It makes a wonderful double feature with Jaws (my favorite), and I’m lucky enough to be able to rewatch the gorgeous four-disc box set of Minus One as often as I want in a home movie theater.

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My point is, I’m a huge fan of Godzilla Minus One and of Yamazaki-san himself as a filmmaker, so news of another Godzilla movie from the same artist and team who created this masterpiece — and the potential for it to be a sequel that continues the story — is perhaps the single best film news I’ve heard all year.

Godzilla Sequel Potential

If Yamazaki-san chooses to explore a new story unrelated to Minus One, I’ll be there opening day and have zero doubt it will once again captivate and thrill all of us. That said, I think it’s obvious we are all excited about the prospect of a direct sequel — and there is good reason to suspect that’s exactly what is coming.

TOHO knows full well they’ve got lightning in a bottle with Godzilla Minus One, and that building on that success could set up a breakout theatrical run that lifts the Japanese Godzilla series to the blockbuster heights of other dominant series worldwide. Godzilla is already a pop culture icon, and TOHO and Yamazaki-san himself obviously know the enormous potential both for storytelling and for box office success if they carry this beloved story forward.

Additionally, the next film appears likely to feature the same characters in a story examining what has become of lives in the aftermath of Minus One's tragedies, disasters, and triumphs. For example, I believe the film will definitely use the radiation (and Noriko’s illness from it) to talk about how it connects not just to Japan’s own suffering and destruction, but also carrying that forward as embodying Godzilla’s own connection to Japan and to the monstrous technology that created the kaiju.

There is also a likelihood (I believe) that another monster will arise — either from the “curse” Godzilla has manifested in Japan, or from humanity’s hubris in trying to create bigger weapons to counter Godzilla’s power. Which, in turn, speaks to themes about post-WWII Japan and the Cold War, weapons of mass destruction, and Japan’s specific position and culture regarding militarism, weapons, the Cold War, and Japan’s uniquely evolved and radically shifted perspective and position on the world stage.

Godzilla’s Future

Godzilla Minus One was much more than its mind-blowing visual effects, but those hyper-realistic near-documentary quality scenes definitely elevated the film’s reputation and theatrical footprint. So on top of the powerful, resonant character arcs, it will also be exciting to see how Yamazaki-san and his amazingly talented award-winning crew up the ante to top their own work — and hopefully with a much higher budget, not because Minus One suffered from lack of funding, but because the team deserves it and should fully realize their vision without such limits.

TOHO will have more updates as the project develops, and I think it will get into production by next summer. Much depends on whether the other unnamed project Takashi Yamazaki has been working on for most of this year is a totally different film, or is in fact the next Godzilla movie. If the filmmaker does have a different film in the works first, that could delay a Minus One follow-up, but that project could actually be the new film or could be delayed if the new Godzilla film winds up prioritized.

Whatever happens next, it’s great news that a follow-up and likely sequel to Godzilla Minus One is greenlit, and in a cinematic era where audiences reward studios that listen and deliver what viewers most want, TOHO is well positioned with this project to break through the box office ceiling and score tremendous results.