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Godzilla Minus One Film Closes Tokyo Int'l Film Festival

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) event announced on August 30 that Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki's new film in the Godzilla franchise, will close out this year's festival. The festival will take place from October 23 to November 1.

The film will open in Japan on November 3, 2023 ("Godzilla Day"), the anniversary day of the original Godzilla film's November 3, 1954 Japanese nationwide release. The film will open in U.S. theaters on December 1.

The festival'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 Kōichi Shikishima, and Minami Hamabe plays heroine Noriko Ōishi. (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 Andō, 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.

Sources: TIFF, Anime Hack