New Godzilla Film Finally Announced
This piece was initially published at KaijuRamenMedia.com on November 3, 2023. Click here to read the original.
For several months, Toho has been in production of a mysterious new movie directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Speculation about the movie has been going on for a while and some hoped that it would finally be a new Godzilla movie. Now that Godzilla Day 2022 is here, Toho has finally announced that it is a new Godzilla movie and is already in post-production.
Back in February of this year, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Robot Communications had sent out a casting call for a new Toho kaiju film with the tentative title of “Monstrous Monster Movie” from Takashi Yamasaki. That movie has now been revealed to be a new Godzilla movie slated to come out on November 3, 2023. 69 years to the day since the first film was released in Japanese theaters. This will be the 30th Godzilla film from Toho; currently, the only thing that’s known is that it will take place in post-war Japan and be very CGI heavy. Even the teaser image for the film has fans stumped.
Takashi Yamazaki is a very respected filmmaker in Japan having directed the Always: Sunset on Third Street trilogy, the first of which he won a Japanese Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed the critically acclaimed Lupin III: The First animated film which came out in 2019. Notably, he directed the Godzilla ride in the Seibu-en amusement park titled Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle which featured a new design for the King of the Monsters. Could that be an indicator of the look Yamazaki is going for?
Toho’s last outing for Godzilla was back in 2016 with the critically acclaimed, award-winning Shin Godzilla. That film was directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi and brought the King of the Monsters back down to basics. Ever since fans have been left in the dark about Toho’s plans for their most famous monster. Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have expanded their MonsterVerse since the release of Shin Godzilla with the likes of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong. but there has been very little from Godzilla’s native country.
2023 is shaping up to be a crazy year for the King of the Monsters. This new untitled Godzilla film from Toho and Takashi Yamazaki is just the latest piece of news for Godzilla’s 69th year. In the same year, Legendary Pictures will release their follow-up to Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla’s first live-action television series on Apple TV+. There seems to be no better time to be a Godzilla fan than right now. Hopefully, it won’t be another 7 years before Toho decides to make another Godzilla film.