Godzilla Minus One: What’s the Significance Behind Latest Monster Movie’s Eccentric Name?
The latest addition to the Godzilla franchise is Godzilla Minus One, and it has been doing quite well both critically and commercially. As the name suggests, it features the fictional monster Kaiju. The latter part of the title has been a topic of intrigue among the fans, whose meaning can be deciphered upon closer inspection of the movie.
Godzilla Minus One has foregone how Monsterverse structures its movies to make straight-out thrillers. This take has led to the movie becoming one of the best-rated monster movies in recent times, and rightly so. This feature dates back to the Golden Age of Godzilla movies, which the franchise fans have grown to love.
Godzilla Minus One‘s Title is Apt
Godzilla Minus One is the 37th movie in the Godzilla franchise and the 33rd film made by Toho Studios, which laid the foundations of this franchise. For years, the MonsterVerse has painted Kaiju as an anti-hero which defies the originality of the character as it is nothing more than a destructive creature that instinctually wreaks havoc on its surroundings.
When Toho Studios started developing this franchise, the destruction Kaiju caused served as an allegory of the horrors of war due to the nuclear warfare that had terrorized Japan in World War II. However, the Western media and MonsterVerse deviated from this storyline as they focused on adding heroic elements to their movies.
Godzilla Minus One reiterates the theme that Toho had used in its movies. It is set in Japan in the 1940s when the country was in a dire state due to the Second World War. That was in addition to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which made it even more difficult for the country to restructure.
With the sudden emergence of Godzilla, any progress that Japan might have made was immediately down the drain. If Japan was at zero after the war ended, the audience can deduce that Godzilla’s attacks made it go below that point by the end of the movie. Hence, the phrase Minus One in the title.
Godzilla Minus One Might Get A Sequel
Directed, written, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One was released on November 3 in Japan after the red carpet premiere at the Shinjuku Toho Building on October 18. Yamazaki took 3 years to write the movie and took inspiration from worldwide anxiety and the unreliability of the government during the pandemic.
The movie ends with a cliffhanger which has led to speculation among fans if it is going to have a sequel. Fortunately, Takashi Yamazaki has expressed his interest in making a sequel as he said (via Sanspo): “I wonder if they’ll let me make one more [movie].”
Godzilla Minus One has received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. Furthermore, it has also become the biggest debut for a foreign film in 2023 in North America. The movie has also become the most successful live-action Japanese movie in history. As of December 11, 2023, it has grossed a worldwide total of $52.2 million against a production budget of below $15 million.
