Takashi Yamazaki’s New Godzilla Minus One Film Opens in U.S. Theaters on December 1

TOHO announced that Takashi Yamazaki‘s new film in the Godzilla franchise will be titled Godzilla Minus One, and it will premiere in U.S. theaters on December 1. The company unveiled a teaser trailer and visual:

The film takes place in Japan following World War II.

The new film will debut in Japan on November 3, 2023 (“Godzilla Day”), the anniversary day of the original Godzilla film’s November 3, 1954 Japanese nationwide release.

Yamazaki is the director and writer, and is also credited for visual effects. Yamazaki has primarily directed live-action films, including the Always: Sunset on Third Street, Returner, and Parasyte films, but has also directed CG films such as Stand By Me Doraemon.

TOHO made the original announcement on last year’s “Godzilla Day.”

TOHO‘s latest Japanese live-action installment in its iconic and long-running franchise is Hideaki Anno‘s Shin Godzilla, which opened in 2016 and earned 8.2 billion yen (US$75.6 million) at the box office in Japan after opening in Japan in July 2016. The movie was the latest in TOHO‘s film series after a 12-year absence since 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars. Funimation screened the film in theaters in North America in October 2016.

The Godzilla Singular Point anime series debuted in Japan in March 2021. Every episode premiered on Netflix in Japan first before its television broadcast. Netflix debuted the anime outside of Japan in June 2021. Netflix previously debuted a Godzilla anime film trilogy between November 2017 and November 2018.

Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment‘s Godzilla vs. Kong film opened in the United States in March 2021, and in Japan in July 2021. The film is getting a sequel titled Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The sequel film will open in theaters on March 15, 2024, and will have IMAX screenings on its release date. Legendary Entertainment is planning a new series for the franchise for the Apple TV+ streaming service.

Sources: Godzilla franchise‘s YouTube channel, Mainichi Shimbun’s Mantan Web