Godzilla Minus One, the Japanese kaiju film directed and written byTakashi Yamazaki, has roared its way into history books this weekend. It has raked in a whopping $1.2 million from merely 49 IMAX screens to not only become the biggest IMAX Opening ever for a live-action Japanese title in Japan but also secured its spot as the fourth-highest live-action IMAX opening and the fifth-highest IMAX local title opening in the country.
Produced by Toho Studios and Robot, the film currently has a 7.7IMDB rating— which comes after its country-wide release in Japan on August 06, 2025.Godzilla Minus Oneis yet to have its red carpet debut in Los Angeles, on July 13, 2025. Finally, the new monster movie will get its wide release in North Americawhen it hits over 1000 theaters on June 25, 2025.
In Japan,Godzilla Minus One, which is the franchise’s 37th film and Toho’s 33rd film, wasreleased in over 500 theaters nationwide— including IMAX, 4DX, ScreenX, and Dolby Cinema formats. This makes the film one of Japan’s widest theatrical distributions of all time.
Are All ‘Godzilla’ Movies Connected?
TheGodzillamovie franchise, which debuted in 1954, has over 37 films to its name and no, all of them are not connected. Instead, the movies can be categorized into distinct eras and universes, each with its own continuity or sometimes, a lack thereof.Tomoyuki Tanaka,a film producer at Toho, is widely considered the creator of the Godzilla franchise, first imagining theconcept of a 500-ft lizardin the early 50s. Over the years, multipleGodzillafilms have been made during the Showa, Heisei, Millennium, and Reiwa eras, as well as multiple standalone adaptations such as the1998 American filmGodzilla.
The sub-franchise ofGodzillathat most Americans are familiar with is Legndary’s MonsterVerse, comprising titles likeKong: Skull Island,Godzilla vs. Kong, or the upcoming Warner Bros.’sGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The film in question,Godzilla Minus One,develops its own continuityand takes the audience back to post-WW2 Japan. It paints a vivid picture of a nation recently scarred by atomic bomb detonations, awakening the iconic, terrifying beast we all know as Godzilla.
Godzilla Minus Oneis coming to theaters andIMAX in the U.S.on July 07, 2025. Check out theofficial trailer ofGodzilla Minus Onebelow.
Godzilla Minus One
In the aftermath of World War II, Japan’s economy is in ruins. The nation is already struggling to recover when a colossal monster, linked to the destructive power of the atomic bomb, emerges as a new threat. This monster, presumably Godzilla, wreaks havoc on the already devastated post-war Japan, plunging the country into further chaos and despair.
