The Godzilla Minus One Box Office numbers have come in as the film instantly shot to the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film in UK and Ireland box office history!
After announcing the expansion of the Godzilla film across 400 more screens in the UK earlier this week I don’t think even we were expecting the numbers to be this good as the Japanese film instantly shot to #2 at the box office.
Godzilla Minus one is playing in cinemas, IMAX and Dolby screens up and down the country and has earned £800,000 from previews and its opening weekend which makes it the largest-ever opening for Anime Limited who distributed the film on behalf of Toho Co. Ltd.
An absolute hit with audiences the latest film in Toho’s classic series was crafted to be the most terrifying incarnation of the character yet, with a Japan gripped by the helplessness of having already lost everything before this new, monstrous threat emerges.
A US release on Friday, 1 December, 2023, about a month after the Japanese premiere, has also been announced. A storm of excitement will sweep through the world with Godzilla Minus One.
The UK got to experience this brand new phenomenon on Friday, 15 December, 2023, and will be available in IMAX, 4DX and Dolby Cinema. For more information, please visit godzillafilm.co.uk.
Director Takashi Yamazaki said:
After the war, Japan has lost everything. I’ve depicted a being that brings unprecedented despair as if adding insult to injury.
The title Godzilla Minus One was created to indicate that and in order to visualise it, I, along with my staff, created a Godzilla that looks like a walking ‘terror’ itself, with a narrative that depicts despair upon despair.
I think this has turned into the culmination of all films I have created. And it turns out to be a film that demands not to be merely watched, but fully experienced at a cinema. I would like you to experience the fiercest Godzilla in the best environment.
Born in Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture in 1964. Hugely inspired by his childhood encounters with Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he chose to work in special effects.
After graduating from Asagaya College of Art and Design, he joined Shirogumi Inc. in 1986. He worked on special effects and digital compositing for Juzo Itami-directed works, such as The Last Dance (1993) and A Quiet Life (1995). He made his directorial debut with Juvenile in 2000. He is a leading artist in visual expression and
VFX, taking advantage of highly sophisticated CGI visuals. In Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), he used VFX to create a cityscape of 1950s Japan with a heart-warming feeling, vivacity and atmosphere with VFX.
It was widely acclaimed, and won twelve categories including Picture of the Year and Director of the Year at the 29th Japan Academy Film Prize.
In a rare coup at the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize, he won eight awards for two films, including Picture of the Year for The Eternal Zero (2013) and Animation of the Year for Stand By Me Doraemon (2014), Lupin III: The First (2019) making him one of Japan’s leading film directors.
