He had to wait a long time for it, but in 2024 the time had finally come: ‘Memento’, ‘Inception’, ‘Interstellar’, ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Tenet’ director Christopher Nolan can now also claim to be an Oscar winner. . Because two of the total seven Academy Awards that ‘Oppenheimer’ won go to the master director – who as as well as for the Was rewarded. But the three-hour epic about the ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’ was certainly not the only cinema highlight of 2023 with a link to the World War that was recently honored at the Oscars.
“Godzilla Minus one“was the first film in Godzilla’s 70-year history to receive an Oscar. The stirring mix of emotional (post)war drama and gigantic science fiction spectacle had a budget of barely ten to twelve million dollars – and therefore less than an episode (!) of the new Netflix series ‘3 Body Problem’. But those peanuts (compared to major Hollywood productions) were enough to trump the well-known and above all much more expensive competition from the dream factory such as ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ or ‘The Creator’ in the effects category.
What’s more, Takashi Yamazaki’s film not only grossed a respectable $107 million and thrilled the trade press and fans alike – it’s now drawing praise from pretty much the top…
Christopher Nolan Celebrates “Godzilla Minus One”…
In conversation with director Yamazaki, Nolan was full of praise for the Japanese kaiju hit: “I saw ‘Godzilla Minus One’ and it was an incredible movie. “I thought it was so exciting, so beautifully executed,” says the maker of “Oppenheimer”. – and also refers to an older, much less known film by Yamazaki.
“I think it’s very much in the spirit of their previous film ‘Eternal Zero,’” says Nolan, before finally addressing perhaps the film’s greatest strength. Because ‘Godzilla Minus One’ gives its characters a lot of depth and also displays a wonderful historical feeling – even though it is ultimately about an enormous lizard that is mainly known (and popular) because it is as big as possible. path of destruction behind him.
…and it’s no wonder!
It is no big surprise that the brand new two-time Oscar winner agrees with Toho Studios’ sensational hit. On the one hand, many longtime Kaiju fans consider “Godzilla Minus One” to be one of the best entries in the genre ever. Why wouldn’t a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan recognize his qualities?
on the other hand It is certainly no coincidence that Yamazaki counts Christopher Nolan among his sources of inspiration for “Godzilla Minus One”. In addition to ‘Jaws’, ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘War of the Worlds’, the Japanese also cited 2017’s ‘Dunkirk’ as a major influence for his film. It is clear that he is also liked by ‘Dunkirk’ creator Nolan.
When will “Godzilla Minus One” be released in home theaters?
After Toho’s 37th Godzilla film disappeared from German screens following its successful run in local movie theaters, Currently it remains to be seen when Godzilla will finally appear in our home theaters.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what is currently up in the air. But at least there is a first clue: Because in Japan the film will be released on May 1, 2024 in numerous limited editions on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray. We can only hope that the local rental company doesn’t take too long to review it. But we assume it will take at least a little longer than in Godzilla’s homeland…