Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla Minus One (Japanese: ゴジラ-1.0（マイナスワン）, Hepburn: Gojira Mainasu Wan) is a 2023 Japanese epic kaiju film directed, written, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. Produced by Toho Studios and Robot Communications and distributed by Toho, it is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise, Toho's 33rd Godzilla film, and the fifth film in the franchise's Reiwa era. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando and Kuranosuke Sasaki. In the film, postwar Japan deals with the emergence of Godzilla.

After finishing his film The Great War of Archimedes (2019), Yamazaki was appointed to make a Godzilla film. He spent three years writing the script, taking influence from Godzilla (1954), Jaws (1975), Hayao Miyazaki's films, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), and Shin Godzilla (2016). Yamazaki previously depicted Godzilla in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007) and a 2021 amusement park ride at Seibu-en. In February 2022, Robot publicized that Yamazaki would soon begin directing a kaiju film. Filming occurred primarily in Kantō and Chūbu from March to June 2022. The visual effects were created by Shirogumi's Chōfu studio over the course of eight months.

The film premiered at the Shinjuku Toho Building on October 18, 2023, and was released in Japan on November 3, to celebrate the franchise's 70th anniversary. Toho's subsidiary Toho International later released it in North America on December 1. The film has grossed over $106 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2023 and is the most successful Japanese Godzilla film, surpassing Shin Godzilla. Hailed as one of the best films of 2023 and among the best in the Godzilla franchise, it received critical acclaim for its visual effects, direction, story, characters, musical score, and social commentary, and was also compared favorably to recent Hollywood films. It has received numerous accolades, including a leading 12 nominations at the 47th Japan Academy Film Prize, and a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards; making it the first Godzilla film to receive an Academy Award nomination and the first Japanese film to be nominated in that category. A black-and-white version, Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, premiered in Japan on January 12, 2024, and was distributed in the United States by Toho International on January 26.