Godzilla lives! Toho plans to produce sequels to Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One, two acclaimed films from the franchise’s so-called Reiwa era.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the Godzilla Minus One sequel is already being filmed in Japan under the direction of Takashi Yamazaki, who will also write the screenplay and supervise visual effects. Although a release date has not been set, it’s likely the film will hit screens late in 2026.
The Shin Godzilla sequel is expected to continue the critique of government inefficiency that characterized the original film, which was a critical and commercial success in Japan, earning some $76 million in that country. Meanwhile, a third Godzilla film is reportedly being planned, this one an original script about the monster’s adversaries.
The franchise for Godzilla is under the aegis of Toho, the Japanese production company, which has reaped a lot of revenue from the critically acclaimed films. As reported by Bloomberg, Toho’s global earnings from Godzilla Minus One amounted to $116 miliion against a budget of only $15 million. Godzilla Minus One was the first Godzilla installment to win an Academy Award, winning an Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 2024.
Koji Ueda, who heads up Toho’s international marketing efforts, has also said that Toho is continuing its collaboration with Legendary on the Monsterverse’s Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and on the second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Over the years, 33 movies about Godzilla have been made in Japan, as well as five English-language versions. Four of the English-language installments are included in Legendary’s Monsterverse. These English films also include references to the King Kong story. Many of the Godzilla films also portray other monsters, including King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan.
The Godzilla films have been categorized into four eras: Shōwa (1954-1975), Heisei (1984-1995), Millennium (1999-2004), and Reiwa (2016 to the present. In the latter two eras, most productions were either live-action reboots or films that focused on the original 1954 production.
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