Godzilla one, Tokyo zero. The new trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero — the sequel to 2023’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One — has roared online featuring a fresh look at the kaiju king’s latest made-in-Japan epic.
“This film is going to be a direct sequel to Godzilla Minus One,” director Takashi Yamazaki declared at CinemaCon in April, before he dropped the first teaser and some behind-the-scenes footage. The latter clip revealed the director on set making the movie in outdoor streets and on soundstages, and featured numerous shots of a devastated Japanese village post-Godzilla attack and greenscreens and Imax cameras covering the set. This will be the first-ever Japanese production filmed for that premium format.
What this new trailer doesn’t show is any more glimpses of Godzilla’s arrival on American shores, as teased via a shot of the giant lizard looming over New York’s Statue of Liberty. “When people find out what Godzilla is trying to do and what its motive is in that scene, everyone is going to be floored,” Yamazaki promised Gold Derby when we chatted with him after the CinemaCon presentation. “It’s hard to to talk too much about what’s going to happen in the film right now!
Here’s everything you need to know about Godzilla Minus Zero as the radioactive reptile prepares for its latest attack.
The backstory
Toho Studios uses its annual Godzilla Day, Nov. 2, 2025, to unveil the next chapter in the giant lizard’s fire-breathing, Tokyo-destroying career. Two years after Godzilla Minus One became the first Godzilla picture in history to win an Oscar, writer-director-visual effects master Takashi Yamazaki will return to those stomping grounds for Godzilla -0.0 or, more simply put, Godzilla Minus Zero.
Set for release in 2026, the film will reportedly shoot in New Zealand and Norway in the coming months, offering Yamazaki a global canvas for what will surely be a monster follow-up.
Godzilla Minus One took place in 1947, immediately after the end of World War II and years prior to the events of 1954’s Godzilla. That story followed Kōichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) a kamikaze pilot whose wartime encounter with the titular monster left lasting trauma that he had to confront again when Godzilla resurfaced and threatened an economically devastated postwar Japan. In an extended climax that knowingly pays homage to Steven Spielberg’s immortal Jaws, Kōichi and his allies defeat Godzilla, but the final shot teases the creature’s return.
“I felt that people had forgotten that Godzilla was originally a metaphor for war and the fear of the nuclear age,” the director remarked in the 2025 book Godzilla: The First 70 Years. “I wanted to recreate that fear.”
What is Godzilla Minus Zero about?
As the director told the audience as CinemaCon, Godzilla Minus Zero “will continue to follow the story of the Shikishima family. In the previous film, postwar Japan was driven down to minus by Godzilla’s attack. People struggled to rise again and move towards the future. But in this film, an even deeper despair will be visited upon Japan and the Shikishima family. When faced with overwhelming force, how wil people fight back? The journey from Minus to Zero will not be an easy one. Right now we’re pouring all of our technology and passion into bringing this story to theaters around the world.”
Who are the cast and creatives?
In addition to Yamazaki, several key players will be back for the sequel, including stars Ryunosuke Kamiki as Kōichi Shikishima and Minami Hamabe as Noriko Ōishi.
“I am beyond happy to be able to participate in a film set two years after Godzilla Minus One, which is one of the most important works of my life,” Kamiki said. “I also feel proud to have been able to work with director Takashi Yamazaki and everyone on the team once again. The pressure of participating in a Godzilla work loved by so many people remains the same as in the previous film, but I have done my absolute best so that everyone who watches it, and everyone who loves Godzilla, can enjoy it.”
For her part, Hamabe said, “My heart is already racing with excitement to share this grand moment with everyone as soon as possible, and see Godzilla Minus Zero in theaters soon. Since this work will be released in Japan and the U.S. around the same time, I am very happy to be able to share Godzilla’s shocking return not only with people in Japan but also with those in America. I pray that this work will also be one that everyone can enjoy and love very much.”
When will Godzilla Minus Zero be relased?
The film will be released Nov. 6 in North America, three days after it debuts in Japan on Godzilla Day.
How many Oscars have the Godzilla movies won?
Godzilla has been awarded many cinematic trophies from its native land, but Godzilla Minus One marked the creature’s debut on the Oscar red carpet. Made for a mere $15 million, the film took home the Best Visual Effects statuette at the 96th Academy Awards, stomping all over massively budgeted blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.
“Given our limited resources, we knew we had to maximize what we could do to put the best possible interpretation of Godzilla on [the] screen,” Yamazaki observed in Godzilla: The First 70 Years. “From a VFX perspective, [we had to take] inventory of what the team was capable of. Having said that, I never let that distract me from writing a good story, which is the most fundamental component in making a good film.”
What other Godzilla movies are in the works?
While Toho still makes its own in-house Godzilla movies, Legendary Entertainment has been building out its own English-language Monsterverse over the past decade — one that’s inhabited by both giant lizards and giant apes. After keeping Godzilla and King Kong separate for a spell, Legendary brought them together in 2021’s Godzilla v. Kong and they’ve been frenemies ever since.
The duo reunited in 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and both have appeared in the current second season of Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which fills in some gaps in the Monsterverse history. They’ll also be back in full force for Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, coming to theaters in 2027. Directed by Grant Sputore, Supernova will star Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Stevens, and Sam Neill — who might get Jurassic Park flashbacks when he lays eyes on Godzilla for the first time.
This story was originally published on Nov. 3, 2025; it was updated April 14, 2026 with the teaser and new details from CinemaCon; and updated on July 10 with the latest trailer.
