One of the most surprising hits of 2023 still has some fight in it. Godzilla Minus One is receiving a black-and-white edition in Japan.
When Godzilla Minus One released in theaters in America, the expectations probably weren’t very high. However, after positive word-of-mouth and some stellar box office returns, the film expanded to an additional 2,600 theaters in mid-December. That decision has helped the movie break some impressive records on its way to becoming the highest-grossing Japanese movie at the U.S. box office.
With all that goodwill, Godzilla Minus One is now set to release a black-and-white version in Japan called Godzilla Minus One / C (Minus Color). This new edition will hit 340 Japanese theaters starting on January 12, 2024.
Related: Godzilla Minus One Is About Trauma & Hope
“Godzilla Minus One / Minus Color, which has been in the works for a long time, will finally release,” director Takashi Yamazaki said on the movie’s official website (via Crunchyroll). “The team did not just make the film monochrome, but coordinated it shot-by-shot, making full use of various mats (*grayscale images used to specify only the necessary area in each material when compositing multiple image materials), as if they were creating a new film. The goal was to create an image tone as if taken by the masters of black-and-white photography. I asked them to unearth as much skin texture and landscape detail as possible, which were latent in the captured data. Then, Godzilla appeared, as terrifying and horrifying as in a documentary. A new sense of reality that looms over you by losing colors. Please come to the theater and live and resist the further horror.”
The announcement makes no mention of a U.S. release for Godzilla Minus One / C (Minus Color), but given the success the movie had in the West, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Godzilla return to theaters sometime next year.
