“Godzilla Minus One,” the biggest picture to date in the Japanese monster movie franchise and the Wednesday night closing gala title at the Tokyo International Film Festival, is set for pan-European release at the beginning of December.
Rights were acquired for 38 territories (excluding the U.K., Ireland and German-speaking territories) by theatrical-only specialist distributor Piece of Magic Entertainment from Toho, the Japanese studio that controls the ‘kaiju’ franchise and distributes the picture in Japan from Nov. 3.
“Godzilla Minus One” takes place in postwar Japan, where Godzilla a new terror rises, forcing the country’s devastated people to not only survive, but fight back. Yamazaki Takashi (“The Eternal Zero,” “Always: Sunset on Third Street,” “Parasyte: Part 1”) has multiple credits as director, screenwriter and VFX artist on the film.
It stars Kamiki Ryunosuke, Hamabe Minami, Yamada Yuki, Aoki Munetaka, Yoshioka Hidetaka, Ando Sakura and Sasaki Kuranosuke.
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From its origins as an allegory for the devastating potential of the hydrogen bomb, the Godzilla franchise has achieved phenomenal worldwide success, and been recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest continuously running film franchise.
The 30 movies produced by Toho in Japan have earned aggregate worldwide grosses of over $1 billion – in addition to the revenues of the Hollywood versions created under license at Legendary Pictures.
“Godzilla Minus One” is the first Japanese “Godzilla” since 2016 and also marks the franchise’s 70th anniversary.
The new film will begin releasing in Europe from Dec. 1, in markets including: France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, the Nordics and Poland. Many will play the film in some in Imax and 4DX versions.
Caspar Nadaud, CEO & founder or Piece of Magic, argues that his company’s focus on theatrical releasing in the streaming era is not just counter-cyclical, it is a smart specialty play.
“A lot of rights owners want to know that their film is going to get a theatrical release – which we guarantee – as it adds prestige, increases the value of their rights and leaves them free to do other deals,” he told PvNew. The company also handles big screen concerts, anime and gaming.
“Since establishing in 2017, we have distributed films in some 60 countries, working in partnership with the exhibitors and we do the work of a traditional distributor, handling the marketing and publicity, sales, box office collection, and organizing the import,” Nadaud said.
“In some markets, we will release ‘Godzilla Minus One’ traditionally, where you have your daily screenings across a week and then you look at holdovers. But in other markets, we will event-ize the release, whereby we target a more bespoke audience. What we want in every case is high occupancy rates, a great experience for the fans, and of course, a nice box office return for everyone involved.
“I think audiences understand that there is a Japanese version and an American version of ‘Godzilla.’ We probably know the Japanese one less, but one way we are going to overcome is to tap into very specific audiences, such as those for animation. We think there is some crossover there and Piece of Magic understand those audiences.
“Also, overall, the interest in in Asian content has grown in the last couple of years. So, people will be aware of this. Then, on top of that, you have the large format, which is something that especially younger audiences are really embracing.”
