Will Godzilla Minus One compete for Best Picture at the Oscars?

Director of Godzilla Minus Zero - Takashi Yamazaki - admits he does not want to dwell too much on the possibility of the film appearing in the Best Picture category, but finds it hard not to hope when "the possibility is not zero."

The film continues to be written, directed, and visually supervised by Takashi Yamazaki, following the story of Godzilla Minus One - a work that created a major surprise at the 2024 Oscars. At the New York premiere, when asked about the possibility of Godzilla Minus Zero competing in the Best Picture category, Yamazaki stated that he tries not to set too many expectations for the awards season.

"I try not to think about it. It was the same with Godzilla Minus One. We didn't know we would be nominated, and we didn't even know if we had a chance to win Best Visual Effects. Even a nomination was a victory for us," the director said.

However, Yamazaki also admitted: "But at the same time, if the possibility is not zero, it is hard not to have a little hope." The director's statement comes as Godzilla Minus Zero is gaining traction during the awards season. Previously, Godzilla Minus One set a significant milestone by becoming the first Godzilla film to win an Oscar.

The work won in the Best Visual Effects category at the 96th Academy Awards, surpassing Hollywood projects with much larger budgets and production scales. This achievement is even more remarkable considering Godzilla Minus One was made with a budget of approximately $15 million. The visual effects team consisted of only about 35 people but created approximately 610 VFX shots for the film.

With Godzilla Minus Zero, director Yamazaki continues to play a central role in building the film's visual world. The work is set in 1949, a few years after World War II, when Japan was still struggling with the aftermath of the war. This time, the threat comes not only from Godzilla but also from the appearance of King Ghidorah - the franchise's famous three-headed monster.

The story begins with King Ghidorah appearing in the city of Matsumoto, creating a danger even greater than in the first installment. Godzilla then returns, despite having been thought to be destroyed at the end of Godzilla Minus One. Faced with two giant monsters, humans seek to turn the confrontation between them into an opportunity to prevent disaster.

According to Variety, the notable point of Godzilla Minus Zero lies not only in the scale of the battles but also in how Yamazaki combines spectacle with the human story. The character Koichi Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot who appeared in Godzilla Minus One, continues to play an important role alongside Noriko and their adopted daughter Akiko.

Characters who survived the war must face a new threat while carrying unresolved trauma and memories. Meanwhile, the scale of the visual effects continues to be a point of interest. Yamazaki began his career working in visual effects before becoming a director. In Godzilla Minus Zero, he continues to be directly involved in the process of constructing giant sequences, from Godzilla to King Ghidorah and the confrontations between the two monsters.

Some initial reviews suggest that the film shows Yamazaki continuing to expand on the formula that helped Godzilla Minus One succeed. Instead of relying solely on the scale of the monsters, the work attempts to create a sense of a world with historical depth, in which Godzilla continues to be used as a symbol of fear and destruction in the post-war era.