New Godzilla film announced for 11/032023

[DannyBeane]

It has been announced Takashi Yamazaki will be directing a new Godzilla film set to be released next year!

https://eiga.com/news/20221103/7/

[lhb412]

Heavily rumored, but it's still very exciting to have it officially confirmed!

Can't wait to see the new design! Honestly, I feel like every new Godzilla should be a reboot. I get kind of bored with him looking the same for too long.

[Kailem]

Hell yeah, exactly one year from now! Guess that "mystery Toho monster movie" was Godzilla after all!

I've enjoyed watching the Legendary films over these past few years, but it's definitely exciting knowing that a new Toho-produced Godzilla movie is finally on the way again now too!

[Dai]

That G logo makes me think of the working title for the original movie. I seem to recall there being rumours that this could be a period remake of the 1954 film, and this points loosely in that direction.

[Russzilla]

Sry much looking forward to it… welcome back MZ… sorta

[lhb412]

Toy solicit popping up, the director reposting a slightly different version of the teaser logo... it feels like we're gonna get something substantial soon!

[Benjamin Haines]

This movie now has an official Twitter account: https://twitter.com/godzilla231103

And here's the first tweet from earlier today: https://twitter.com/godzilla231103/status/1668211547066474497?cxt=HHwWgoDRkYjk1qYuAAAA


That tweet is a spotlight on Shin Godzilla, and this is how the text translates:

[Appearance information: #Godzilla No.29]

"#Shin Godzilla" (2016)

Nippon vs Godzilla
Is there a way for humans to deal with an unprecedented threat, Godzilla?


That text is accompanied by a YouTube link to the Shin Godzilla trailer, along with two photos. The first photo is the main Shin Godzilla poster with the number 29 in the upper-right corner. The second photo depicts the Shin Godzilla poster as the first entry among four rows of 30 poster slots, with 29 blank slots after it.


It seems like Toho is going to use this Twitter account to spotlight each of their live-action Godzilla movies once per day in reverse chronological order for the next month, leading all the way to #0 at the end! If that's the case, then it looks like they're preparing to reveal the poster and the trailer for "Godzilla Zero" on July 11!

[lhb412]

Looks like we've got ourselves a Godzilla advent calender!

[Benjamin Haines]

We've had so many direct sequels to G'54 over the years but the notion of a prequel is yet more uncharted territory for the franchise and I'm all for it. If Toho manages to pull it off in a way that doesn't contradict the events of the original film at all, then this new movie could function as not just a prequel to G'54 but as a prequel to every timeline that builds on the first film. "Godzilla Zero" could be viewed as a prequel to the Showa Series, or as a prequel to the Heisei Series, or as the first part of a quadrilogy followed by G'54 and the two Kiryu movies, or as the first part of a trilogy followed by G'54 and any of the other Millennium Series entries. That Twitter countdown of all of Toho's live-action Godzilla films in reverse order seems to emphasize that this new movie will be a prequel to everything that came before.

[lhb412]

I'm still not sure that this film will officially tie in with the timeline of the '54 film, but it'll certainly be the first film chronologically speaking!

Besides three vaguely futuristic entries a Godzilla period piece is uncharted territory. Exciting!

[Kailem]

Yeah I'm more expecting this film to do away with G54 completely like Shin did, rather than try to fit itself into its continuity somehow, and be the [i]new[/i] "first time Godzilla has ever appeared". It'd be difficult to have it set less than a decade before the original film and try to make out like everyone had forgotten he'd already rampaged through Japan once before.

But I like the idea they're going with here, counting back down to the very beginning. It's something we've only ever had brief glimpses of at most before now, so it's definitely a concept that's got my interest piqued!

[Benjamin Haines]

Yeah, if this is a movie about Godzilla attacking mainland Japan for the first time in the mid '40s then it's another complete reboot. I'm hoping for a prequel to G'54 set entirely on and around Odo Island. We need more island getaway Godzilla movies!

[Russzilla]

Kinda figured we’d get a trailer in July, that seems to be the normal release time for most of the recent Toho G trailers. Cannot wait!

[Dai]

I'm looking forward to seeing what this new movie is all about. I'm not looking forward to how long I'll have to wait to watch it.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ At least Shin Godzilla got a BRD release in the UK not long after North America. Here's hoping that we can all get a similar turnaround for the next flick, preferably with a theatrical release on both shores this time!


Toho's Twitter countdown is at #11 today: Godzilla vs. Hedorah!

[Kailem]

Well the Twitter countdown ends tomorrow, so whatever's going to be revealed (hopefully a trailer) it won't be long now!

[Kailem]

Forbes jumped the gun and posted their article too early!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2023/07/11/godzilla-spotted-approaching-america-toho-international-announces-new-creature-feature/?sh=3dff22d471e6

"Godzilla Minus One" is the official title, it confirms a teaser trailer is dropping in just under an hour, and gives us our first glimpse of the new design. And yup, other than the seemingly bigger spines, it looks very similar to the Godzilla designs from the ride and the Always 2 cameo, which I kinda figured would be the case given it's the same director for all three.

The article also confirms the long-rumoured post-WW2 setting, and crazily enough, that it's going to be in the same continuity as Shin Godzilla! I'm not quite sure how they intend to pull that one off, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

[lhb412]

And Godzilla looks like a modified version of the The Ride design... which looked similar to the design from the dream sequence in Always 2. Man, Yamazaki has been unwavering this whole time? He's had this vision for 'his Godzilla' and he's finally getting to do it.

... and a December 1 release for US theatrical! Outstanding. Can't believe 2023 will be the year I saw new Japanese Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Godzilla films in the theater!

[Kailem]

The teaser is here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlceGpbGgvE&t=2s

Very much a teaser indeed, but there were some great shots in there. It definitely did a good job of barely showing anything but still building the hype!

[Dai]

Looks great so far, and confirming once again that you do not want to be on a train during a kaiju attack.

Also, how the hell has it been seven years since Shin Godzilla?!

[Kailem]

I love Godzilla's continued attacks against trains. Not because I dislike them or anything, I just think it's neat.

Also apparently Forbes updated their article to say that this just "follows 2016's Shin Godzilla" rather than is in continuity with it, which makes a lot more sense since the latter is kinda impossible without an insane level of retconning.

[lhb412]

Seeing Godzilla do a '54 style rampage in the daytime is making my day.

[DannyBeane]

I'm cautiously excited

[Kailem]

Some better images of the whole design have been released:

https://twitter.com/godzilla231103/status/1679143675975303168?s=20

[lhb412]

Cool! Definetely makes the Ride design seem like a work on progress, as the full view shows all the tweaks he's gone through since then, most obviously with the far more pronounced dorsal fins and the spikier skin texture. I do think there's been many less obvious tweaks with proportion.

The spikiness is really the main affectation to what seems to be a very mainstream design; a mix between the Heisei and Legendary Godzillas, which are the two most popular and recognizable in pop culture. It feels like a Godzilla meant to map on to the preexisting collective image of Godzilla.