TOHO revealed on Monday that Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki‘s new film in TOHO‘s Godzilla franchise, has sold 640,000 tickets for 1.04 billion yen (about US$6.95 million) in its first three days in the Japanese box office. The film has sold 14.7% more tickets and earned 22.8% more than the last live-action Japanese Godzilla film, Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi‘s Shin Godzilla from 2016.

The film opened in Japan last Friday, November 3, 2023 (“Godzilla Day”), which was the anniversary of the first Godzilla film’s November 3, 1954 release. The new film screened at The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) as the closing film of this year’s event last Wednesday

The film will open in U.S. theaters on December 1.

TIFF’s website describes the film’s story:

The worst despair in the 70-year-old series’ history strikes Japan!
After the war, Japan has been reduced to zero. Godzilla appears and plunges the country into a negative state. Against the most desperate situation in the history of Japan, how — and with whom —will Japan stand up to it?

Ryunosuke Kamiki plays protagonist K?ichi Shikishima, and Minami Hamabe plays heroine Noriko ?ishi. (The two also lead the cast of NHK‘s ongoing weekday morning series Ranman.) Other cast members include Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura And?, and Kuranosuke Sasaki.

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‘s latest Japanese live-action installment in its iconic and long-running franchise was Hideaki Anno‘s Shin Godzilla, which opened in Japan in 2016 and earned 8.2 billion yen (US$75.6 million). 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.

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 April 12, 2024, and will have IMAX screenings on its release date. Legendary Entertainment‘s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series will debut worldwide on the Apple TV+ streaming service on November 17.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun’s Mantan Web