translation || “Godzilla Minus One” (2023) — Shocking Achievement of Japanese Live-Action Film: Blossoming on its 70th Anniversary as the ‘All-Time Highest Grossing’ in the US
The movie “Godzilla Minus One,” released in the United States on December 1, 2023 (local time), has made a formidable start. Toho announced that among Japanese live-action films released in the US, it has become the highest-grossing film of all time. Why is the world currently enthusiastic about “Godzilla”? Entertainment sociologist Atsuo Nakayama analyzes the secret behind it, taking into account its strenuous trajectory through the years.
Godzilla Minus One: Rewriting the History of American Cinema
Why is the movie “Godzilla-1.0” a hit?
The 33rd film in the series has become the “highest-grossing Japanese live-action film in the United States,” a remarkable accomplishment for a Japanese film. The difference being that TOHO International, instead of relying on local companies for distribution, took on the distribution into its own hands and distributed the film to screens nationwide. The box office revenue of $11.5 million (approximately 1.6 billion yen) in its first three days was described by NBC News as “an unexpected development that Hollywood did not anticipate.” The growth until the second week is more significant than the figures in Japan, and it is expanding at a faster pace than the previous Japanese film “Shin Godzilla,” which exceeded 8 billion yen.
Based on reviews, the reasons for the film’s positive reception in the United States can be categorized as follows:
- Desire for Originality: Many viewers expressed a desire for Godzilla to return to its roots, appreciating the film for embodying those original elements. Some reviewers mention that previous iterations may have leaned too much towards Godzilla being too much of a human ally, too horror-centric, or excessively cute.
- Comparison with Other Series’ Decline: The film’s success is contrasted with the perceived decline of other series, such as recent underperformance in Disney productions, such as the Marvel and Indiana Jones series.
- Impressive Visuals and Music: The movie is praised for its visuals and music, with comments suggesting that it holds its own against Hollywood productions, providing powerful and compelling artistic elements.
- Character-Centric and Understandable Story: The film’s appeal in the U.S. is also attributed to a character-centered and easily comprehensible storyline. Viewers appreciate a narrative that focuses on characters and is straightforward in its delivery.
These elements collectively contribute to the positive reception of the film in the US.
Upon reflection, the protagonist of “Shin Godzilla” (2016), a major hit in Japan, was centered in “Japan’s traditional decision-making process.” It was difficult for foreigners to wholeheartedly be entertained by the Japan-contextualized environment and the series of meetings addressing the monstrous disaster in a mocking manner.
As a result, its box office revenue in Japan amounted to 8.2 billion yen, while it concluded at $2 million (approximately 300 million yen) in the US. In contrast, in “Godzilla Minus One,” Ryunosuke Kamiki portrays “Shikishima Koichi”, a former kamikaze pilot burdened with guilt, and Minami Hamabe plays the symbolic heroine “Natsuko Oishi”, wandering the scorched earth with her child. The universality achieved by straightforwardly elevating it to a family story has tailored this film into a universally relatable narrative.
In the United States, the film earned 26 million dollars (approximately 4 billion yen) in just 10 days. At this rate, it is only a matter of time before it surpasses the U.S. box office revenue of “Demon Slayer,” which holds the second-highest record among all Japanese anime films.
The protagonist searching for a place to die and former soldiers who volunteered for a suicide attack against Godzilla evoke the “origin” of what Godzilla originally represented. In WWII, 2.3 million Japanese soldiers died and nearly half of the 3.4 million stationed abroad faced the possibility of dying in action. While the film depicts the fictional story of Godzilla’s encounter and extermination, War survivors were indeed haunted by guilt and regret, seeking a place to die, in real life. The line present in the film “Our war is not over” strongly resonates with reality.
Moreover, the ending vividly depicted the changes spanning from the Showa Era to the Heisei and Reiwa Eras, covering four to five generations. It was not a war film tailored exclusively for middle-aged and older men, indulging in nostalgia and admiration of the aesthetics of men fading away with phrases like “men in that era were cool.” Instead, it was arranged as a story acceptable to contemporary women and children, interpreting war in a surprisingly subtle manner, making it a work that could be well-received by the general audience.
Also, as an additional explanation for why the film has explosively succeeded in the United States, it can be attributed to the Godzilla fever that Hollywood has been fostering over the past decade, coupled with the triumph of Toho’s corporate strategy, as discussed below.
A Unique Character IP: A Revival That Was Supposed to End
First of all, how was Godzilla born?
It’s well known that Godzilla was inspired by the “nuclear bomb tests at Bikini Atoll (nuclear tests conducted by the United States in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958)” and had its first release in 1954.
This “monster born from the results of nuclear bomb tests” was not an entirely original creation. It drew inspiration from the 1953 U.S. sci-fi film “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,” and the design incorporated elements from a T-Rex, the form of a Styracosaurus, the texture of a crocodile’s skin, and the keloid scars from nuclear bombs. The lines coming from its head were designed to resemble “mushroom clouds” (“Anime, Tokusatsu, SF, Film Media Handbook” [written by Nobuhiko Asao, published by Seishinsha, 2006]).
The person who developed this visual representation was Eiji Tsuburaya, who later became the creator of Ultraman. Shocked by the 1933 U.S. film “King Kong,” he initially tried to imitate the stop-motion technique, moving dolls bit by bit, but it was impossible due to technology complexity and time constraints.
The dolls lacked the necessary weight. Therefore, Japan’s unique special effects technique, the “suitmation” (wearing a costume) that is still used to this day, was born. While anime and manga derived from imported techniques from the United States, this special effect was Japan’s original craftsmanship.
Initially, there were no plans to make more than one “trial” Godzilla film, but it ended up drawing an audience of 9.61 million. At that time, Toho, which had been overshadowed by “Toei’s double-feature jidaigeki strategy,” released the second film, “Godzilla Raids Again” (1955), as a comeback hit.
The explanation that “Godzilla represents the ghost of men who died (in the war) and is a paternalistic monster” became established as a theory from the 1980s on. If Godzilla represents the repose of those who died in the Southeast Asia battles of WWII, then Anguirus in the second film represents the grudge of soldiers detained in Siberia. Both were political characters who bore the weight of war.
Initially intended to be a two-part franchise, after a gap of about seven years, the third film turned out as an unexpected collaboration with “King Kong.” The project for “King Kong vs. Frankenstein,” which RKO was developing, fell through, and, after facing some issues, it was transferred to Toho and “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (released in the United States in 1963 and in Japan in 1962) was born.
In exchange for the usage of King Kong’s naming rights for five years, Toho was demanded 80 million yen (which would be equivalent to several billion yen today). The agreement even included a clause stating that Godzilla must never defeat King Kong.
The first Godzilla attacked Japan with aerial attacks, symbolizing the same US actions that had reduced the country to ashes. It also served as a representation of Japan’s complex of inferiority and awe during the post-war occupation period. The destruction of Matsuya Ginza and Hattori Clock Store in “Godzilla” (1954) can be considered deliberate since these were buildings under GHQ (General Headquarters of occupied Japan)’s control at the time.
The reason why Godzilla has created fans not only in Japan but also in the United States over the years is probably because it represented the US from the perspective of a victimized country.
In “Godzilla Minus One,” the sense of despair when Godzilla appears, the overwhelming feeling that no matter what we do, we will be completely annihilated, may be a reality that only a defeated and bombed country like Japan can convey.
Godzilla is a character that includes political messages about defeat, serving as a “counter-history of the United States.” Because of that it stands apart from entertainment-oriented IPs (intellectual properties) such as “Astro Boy” and “Obake no Q-taro” that came later.
The First Hollywood Version Co-produced with Sony was a Failure
Godzilla, the spawn of nuclear power, underwent various changes.
The “Showa Godzilla Series (3rd to 15th films: 1962 to 1975)’’ gradually became more and more like a carnival of monsters made for children, losing its realism and eventually coming to an end.
The series concluded with the 15th installment, “Terror of Mechagodzilla” (1975). Emerging after a nine-year hiatus as part of Godzilla’s 30th anniversary, “The Return of Godzilla” (1984) drew inspiration from successful works like “Japan Sinks” and pioneered a new approach in disaster panic horror, which gave momentum to the revival of the “Heisei Godzilla Series”.
However, the “Heisei Godzilla Series (17th to 29th films: 1989–2004)” also transitioned into lighter films aimed at families. Perhaps due to financial constraints in achieving profitability solely through box office revenue, “Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack” (2001) was screened as a double-feature with the hit film “Hamtaro.” The target audience became unclear, and Godzilla’s identity seemed to be collapsing. The 29th film, “Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004), declared the end of the series productions.
The Showa series coincided with a severe recession in the Japanese film industry (with the late 1970s seeing the end of the Kamen Rider series and the Ultraman series), while the Heisei series lost its original essence amid the loss of political undertones with the end of the Cold War and the transition towards family-oriented content.
However, Godzilla kept alive in between Japan and the United States. The revival of Godzilla was not solely due to Toho’s efforts or the strength of the Japanese film industry. Hollywood played a crucial role in providing significant support and assistance to the franchise’s trajectory.
The 23rd film, “Godzilla” (1998) was produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), in collaboration with Sony, and was released in the midst of the Heisei series, marking the first Hollywood adaptation of a number of following failures. Originally, Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony that had been under Sony’s umbrella since 1992, acquired the rights from Toho. But, according to “Losing with Godzilla, Winning with Spider-Man” (written by Masayuki Nogami, Shinchosha, 2013), due to “Hollywood’s specific whims, they demanded from Toho exclusive rights to the character Godzilla, and these various demands and claims caused trouble for a long time,” resulting in a six-year process for its release.
The film was directed by Roland Emmerich, known for “Independence Day,” and his impeccable track record. The speed of the project and the difference in design of the first Hollywood version of Godzilla were faced with reluctance from Toho, but eventually, the demands were pushed through.
By that time, the success of “Jurassic Park” was so significant that they didn’t hesitate in “dinosaurifying” the monster, overlooking the discomfort of longtime fans. The initial budget was 25 million dollars, but it ended up costing 125 million dollars (approximately 15 billion yen at that time), resulting in an alarmingly high breakeven point.
Despite being a box office hit and reaching a worldwide gross of 379 million dollars, the film found itself in a situation where it “barely avoided losses.” The more significant problem was the critical and audience reviews, which were dismal, leading to the discontinuation of the planned trilogy after the first feature.
Synergy of Toho’s Strategy and “MonsterVerse” Yields Miraculous Results
About a decade ago, Toho’s Godzilla received an unexpected twist.
Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros., aiming to follow up on Walt Disney’s “Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)” (2008–), collaborated to create the “MonsterVerse.”
The first film in the “MonsterVerse”, “Godzilla” (2014), had a production cost of $160 million and grossed $520 million. Following its sequence, “Kong: Skull Island” (2017), the third film, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019), had a production cost of $170 million and grossed $390 million. The fourth film, “Godzilla vs. Kong” (2021), had a production cost of $150 million and grossed $470 million. Each film was a massive hit, surpassing 50 billion yen in revenues. Furthermore, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is expected to be released in 2024.
These films, which have had a marketing budget of around 10 billion yen, can be likened to a Godzilla body with an engine more than ten times its size.
Unfortunately, the subsequent “Japanese” production, “Shin Godzilla” (2016), had a strong Japanese identity and did not fit into these contexts. However, the recent “Godzilla Minus One” can indeed be considered part of the “MonsterVerse” and has been accepted without being considered inferior in any way, despite having a production cost less than one-tenth of the US budgets. This success can be attributed to the already heightened Godzilla fever in the U.S. market since the beginning of the “MonsterVerse” in 2014.
The success can also be attributed to innovations in terms of business models. In 2019, Toho established the “Godzilla Room” as a new internal department. In its 65th year, the department dedicated to Godzilla’s intellectual property (IP) was first established, and merchandising, which had been previously entrusted to Warner, began its in-house handling from 2018 on.
In 2023, TOHO Global was established, and Hiroshi Ueda, an executive officer with a background in Sumitomo Trading and Nomura Securities, was brought in as a “non-proper personnel” [similar to a temporary worker]. They even brought in Kristin Parcell, former GM of Crunchyroll, as an advisor, signaling an unprecedented “overseas shift” for a Japanese film company.
Most recently, the company ventured into new territory by acquiring 25% of Fifth Season, a U.S. subsidiary of South Korea’s CJ Group, which handles projects like “TOKYO VICE Season 2”, through a large-scale M&A involving a $220 million investment in a company with an estimated value of approximately $15 billion.
The fact that “Godzilla Minus One” has been such a success in the U.S. has significant implications not only for Toho but for the entire history of Japanese characters’ overseas expansion. The victorious “Godzilla Minus One” in the fight for survival has shown a lifeline for Japanese entertainment companies.
Originally published in Nikkei X-Trend on December 20th, 2023.
