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@TheDriftSpace
Podcast. Former Filmmaker, Ex-Critic, Film Historian, *~Evil-Elitist-Gatekeeping-Triggerman~*, owner of many physical copies of movies.
THE KING AND THE PAUPER:
The clash of Godzilla's cultural importance w/ American blockbuster standards
"If the movies aren't about the bomb, they're topical escapism covering the sociopolitical fallout the atomic weapon caused over the last 65+ years."
Can't get enough of
#GodzillaMinusOne
? Starting December 15, the film will be playing on EVEN MORE North American screens—increasing to over 2,600 locations in the US & Canada. Get your tickets today:
Watch every Godzilla movie.
Watch them out of order. Watch what looks most interesting first. Watch them subtitled. Watch them dubbed. Watch the ones you love and the ones you hate. Watch your new favorites over and over before moving to the next.
But watch every Godzilla movie
Godzilla Minus One becomes the first film in the franchise to win an Oscar and the first Japanese film in history to win an Oscar for the VFX category.
Minus One ends its magnificent award season run with one last historical finish.
Godzilla Minus One has won Best Picture at the Japanese Academy Awards!
It's made history again! Two Godzilla movies have now won Best Picture since the Academy's creation in 1978!!!!
Godzilla Minus One is Japan's Best Picture of the Year!
Took four casuals to see Godzilla Minus One tonight. Two of them have been getting into Godzilla for the past year and were blown away. The other two had never seen a Godzilla movie and started jamming to Ifukube's March. All of them called it one of their favorites of the year.
I knew GxK would be piggybacking off of Minus One's success in Japan. However, using Yamazaki in an ad for it was both brilliant and transparent on Toho's part.
This could be the most successful Monsterverse flick in Japan since 2014.
I wish more Godzilla designs had these ears. It's a small detail that helps break him away from psuedo-real animal and plants him firmly into full blown movie monster territory.
This would've made for an interesting design in action.
"Audiences don’t have 'Godzilla fatigue,' he said. 'It’s not even action movie fatigue. It’s bad movie fatigue. Or movies that just don’t push the envelope enough for audiences to get on board.'"
55 award wins, including Best Picture in Japan & Best VFX in the US.
¥6 Billion+, the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film of the Reiwa Era.
$107 Million worldwide, the highest-grossing Toho Godzilla film in the world.
"How the hell do we follow this up?" - Toho, maybe.
I sorta hate how Return of Godzilla & Shin Godzilla get sidelined as, "basically a remake of 1954".
It's reductive of all three films which are very different from each other. Actually, based on them, I'd prefer more "solo" films than any more monster vs. monster flicks.
Damn. The Minus One high has been real. Next thing to do is wait for the physical release and see what Godzilla Day 2024 brings!
Hell of a 70th Anniversary year so far, Godzilla.
Seen one or two, "Godzilla Minus One's U.S. run is only considered a success b/c the budget's so low."
It also has none of the marketing of most mainstream, Hollywood films--big or small. No TV spots. No tie-ins. No toys on shelves. Just some Youtube trailers, posters & WoM.
Some reality checks about Godzilla Minus One on home video.
Movies don't release as quickly in Japan. Shin Godzilla didn't come out for 8 months after its theatrical release and it didn't hit the US on home video for another 4 months after. Shin Ultraman was even longer.
The Godzilla Channel drops.
Godzilla Store announced.
Potential Godzilla Zero "things" tomorrow.
I usually hate the, "great time to be a fan" line, but honestly...
Mothra is not, "Godzilla's queen." She's a badass, single mom who held the win record against a power-drunken, nuclear reptile for 37 years while maintaining prosperity on her decimated island and being kind enough to help the privileged outside of it when they screwed up.
This goes back to my observation that GvK was at the right place and right time. Exiting the "Covid year," audiences wanted something dumb, escapist, and without reminders of reality. GvK delivered.
Under normal circumstances, it would've been flayed. GxK will be telling.
I always get weary of the,
"This is the movie Honda would've made, had he been able to."
"This is exactly what Ishiro Honda would've done."
Every time we get a Godzilla trailer with melancholy.
No, Honda made the exact, GREAT movie he set out to make in 1954. Go watch it.
Box Office:
Godzilla x MechaGodzilla grossed an estimated $335,000 based on one showing across 727 theaters. It was ranked
#5
at the box office last Thursday.
Honestly, I'd welcome a series of "solo" Godzilla films. Perhaps he shows up throughout different decades after Minus One and different generations have to deal with him.
At this point it sounds far more appealing to me. But I'm sure they'll eventually go the monster fight route.
Congratulations to Yamazaki and his team for Godzilla Minus One's Visual Effects nom. The first Godzilla movie to be nominated for an American Academy Award
Congratulations to Takashi Yamazaki for winning the Best Director Hochi Film Award for Godzilla Minus One!
Godzilla Minus One was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor & Supporting Actress. Yamazaki walks away with the Director's honor.
Godzilla still has the scar on his face from his battle with Gigan last year.
Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan's Attack ⬅️
Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar ➡️
I hope those who stuck around for the end credits were paying attention. I noticed this the first time and keeled over laughing.
Who remembers back in 2001 where Toho considered the monsters "actors" taking on new roles when needed? Hope the SAG transition was smooth.
#Godzilla
Godzilla Minus One has outgrossed Shin Godzilla worldwide in Yen (not USD) with an estimated ¥10 Billion. (Roughly $70.2M in today's exchange rate.)
Shin Godzilla's worldwide gross was an estimated ¥8.7 Billion. (Which was roughly $81.5M in 2016.)
#Godzilla
's underwater habitat, pre-nuclear blast. According to the late Tomoyuki Tanaka's book, Definitive Edition Godzilla Introduction, only two survived.
But we figured that...
With the first four Heisei flicks out of print we've now reached a point where most Heisei movies are more obscure than the Showa films. Despite my sick satisfaction over that, the truth is each of these flicks deserve solid, attainable releases. Find them a new distributor Toho.
I can't believe after all these years a veteran from the Showa era is releasing a film in the same genre with the effects that made this genre so popular! Unbelievable feat! I don't think I've this excited or happy about a kaiju film in a long, long time!
This has long been debunked, but there was once a misconception among fans that the
#Godzilla
'54 skeleton was NOT inside of Kiryu and they only used the extracted DNA for the
#MechaGodzilla
. Just to debunk it further:
So Takashi Yamazaki, a man I've been spamming should be the next
#Godzilla
director, is shooting an untitled Toho kaiju film from March-June.
Extras are needed for a scene taking place in the late-1940s. Unknown if it's just one scene's setting or the whole film.
Breath held.
The unnamed monster in What to Do With the Dead Kaiju is 155m tall, bigger than every Godzilla with the exception of Godzilla Earth from the anime trilogy.
Shinichi Wakasa, who built most of the Millennium Godzilla suits and non-Godzilla Heisei monsters, had a hand in the design
"I think that Godzilla Minus One might possibly make people reconsider just what a Godzilla movie can actually be, which really is something (and should be rewarded)."
Japan B.O. Shin
#Ultraman
is looking at an estimated $7.7M three day opening right now. That would make it the highest grossing Ultraman movie and Japan's third biggest opening for a kaiju/giant monster movie of the last 10 years.
Godzilla Minus One passed ¥3 Billion today. Only four other giant monster/tokusatsu-related films have ever done that. It's the 5th to join the ¥3 Billion club.
It has also surpassed KotM's final attendance and will be at 2 Million before the weekend.
Minus One's box office had an unprecedented leap today in Japan: A 1039% increase from last Tues. jumping to a total of ¥6.12 Billion. It's back in the top 10 at
#2
and has hit 4.00 Million in attendance, tying Destoroyah as the 10th most attended Godzilla film of all time.
Although there's currently no admissions numbers, Shin
#Godzilla
returned to Japanese theaters this past weekend and (re)opened at
#6
. It was one of three movies in the top 10 that wasn't released in the last 6 months. It beat out Birds of Prey & Midsommar.
Favorites per decade:
50s - Godzilla
60s - Invasion of Astro-Monster
70s - Terror of MechaGodzilla
80s - The Return of Godzilla
90s - Godzilla 2000
00s - Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
10s - Shin Godzilla
20s - Godzilla Minus One
Again, English outlets are reporting incorrectly.
Shin
#Ultraman
did NOT open bigger than Shin
#Godzilla
. They're erroneously comparing Ultraman's 3-day $7.7M opening to Godzilla's $6.1M 2-day opening.
Shin Godzilla's 3-day was $8.2M.
Shin Ultraman's 2-day was $5.5M.
This picture was taken by Steve Ryfle. I doubt many of these posters exist seeing as it's specific to the Dolby Theater early fan access event, but I would love to have it hanging on my wall.
Easily my favorite of the Godzilla Minus One posters.