Godzilla Minus Zero Slated To Premiere At New York Film Festival

Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero is set to bow for its world premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival. The new film picks up in 1949, two years after events in Godzilla Minus One, as the Shikishima family face a new calamity. Godzilla Minus Zero is a GKIDS release.

The follow-up to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, which grossed $116 million worldwide and thrilled audiences with its modestly budgeted special effects, will be a Spotlight Gala selection at Alice Tully Hall on September 26. The director and the members of the cast and crew will be attending the premiere.

“More than 70 years after the first Godzilla movie, Takashi Yamazaki continues to prove that there’s life in the old franchise yet, returning to its postwar roots to locate a haunting, primal terror,” said Dennis Lim, NYFF artistic director. “Like its predecessor, ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is a throwback blockbuster, a showcase for human drama and innovative craft, and we are excited to have its world premiere as this year’s NYFF Spotlight Gala.”

The film is scheduled to open in North American theaters on November 6, just three days after its bow in Japan. November 3 is officially celebrated worldwide as Godzilla Day, marking the anniversary of the original monster feature’s theatrical release in Japan in 1954. Godzilla Minus One is now the third-highest-grossing foreign-language film at the U.S. box office.

“It is truly an honor to introduce our film to a global audience for the first time in a place of such history and prestige,” said Yamazaki. “I am filled with both awe and excitement to see how far the power of Japan’s Godzilla can terrify audiences around the world, and whether they will resonate with what lies beyond that fear.”

The 64th New York Film Festival runs September 25-October 12. James Gray’s Paper Tiger has been announced as the opening film, Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! as the centerpiece, and Ava DuVernay’s documentary's 14th will be the festival’s closing film.