Godzilla Officially Returns in Godzilla: Minus Zero’s Explosive First Trailer
Overview & Key Takeaways
'Godzilla Minus Zero' just got its first trailer featuring its iconic big bad and a new Imax aspect ratio.
Somehow, Godzilla has returned. Toho just released the first full trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero, and it’s a doozy. This direct sequel to Takashi Yamazaki’s Oscar-winning 2023 Godzilla reboot looks like it will pick up two years after Minus One, as a post-World War II Japan continues to pick up the pieces.
“We didn’t finish the job like we thought,” says Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), a former Naval weapons engineer who helped design the ingenious explosive decompression attack against Godzilla used in the last movie. Despite seemingly blowing up, the atomic lizard is back to its usual shenanigans of demolishing Japan. In light of this, the country assembles a new task force. “There is no third time,” a subtitle reads. “Everything ends here.” Minus Zero is seemingly being marketed as the last of the “Minus” films, although we'll see if that ends up being true.
The trailer reunites us with Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Noriko (Minami Hamabe), the protagonists of the previous movie — for those who need a refresher, the former was a would-be kamikaze pilot struggling to live, while the latter was a single mother turned thief who was nursing psychological wounds like Shikishima.
Godzilla Minus Zero will be the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX and the trailer suddenly expands to a 1:43:1 aspect ratio to sell this. There’s an aerial battle as Shikishima gets back into the cockpit, and a fairly surprising shot of Godzilla falling from the sky as Noda says, “This isn’t Godzilla we are talking about.” Is this the same Godzilla from the previous film? Will another kaiju challenge the King of the Monsters? We’ll find out when the movie is released in theaters on Nov. 6.
How does this relate to the last Godzilla movie, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire?
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
Godzilla Minus Zero and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire take place in separate canonical universes, and are handled by different production companies. Godzilla Minus One was the 33rd Japanese-produced Godzilla film from Toho, the original rights holder of the series. Legendary Pictures previously acquired the licensing rights to make its own Godzilla movies, resulting in the “Monsterverse,” which spans Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island, the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters TV series, and more.
Legendary Pictures is currently producing Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, the sequel to 2024’s New Empire. The next movie in Legendary's Monsterverse movie series will be released on March 26, 2027.
