“Godzilla Minus Zero,” the highly anticipated sequel to Oscar-winning “Godzilla Minus One,” will have its world premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival on September 26.
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the film will screen as the festival’s Spotlight Gala at Alice Tully Hall, with Yamazaki and members of the cast and crew expected to attend. The sequel follows the success of “Godzilla Minus One,” which became the third-highest-grossing foreign-language film in U.S. box-office history.
Set in 1949, two years after the events of ‘Minus One,’ the sequel continues the story of the Shikishima family as they confront another series of dangerous events.
Festival artistic director Dennis Lim praised Yamazaki for revitalizing the long-running franchise by returning to its postwar roots and combining human drama with innovative visual effects.
Yamazaki previously made history at the 2024 Oscars when he and his VFX team won Best Visual Effects for Godzilla Minus One, making him the first director since Stanley Kubrick to receive the award.
“Godzilla Minus One,” released in late 2023, was the 37th film in the franchise and Toho’s 33rd Godzilla film. Made on a $15M budget, the film earned $115M worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Japanese Godzilla film of all time. It also became the first non-English-language film to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
The film will open in North American theaters on November 6.
Zak Penn, who penned the first film, revealed that he is currently writing the sequel. It’s easily the biggest update we’ve gotten on “Ready Player Two” in some time.