Toho to spend $105 million on Godzilla projects, including the Godzilla Minus One follow-up

Back in 2023, Toho released a new Godzilla film, titled Godzilla Minus One (read our review HERE), in Japan on November 3rd, which happens to be Godzilla Day, the anniversary of the 1954 release of the original Godzilla movie. To celebrate the anniversary last year, they announced that they’ve given the greenlight to a new Godzilla movie that will be written and directed by Godzilla Minus One mastermind Takashi Yamazaki, who will also be handling the visual effects. Now, Bloomberg has revealed that Toho will be investing 120 billion yen ($1.2 billion) over the next three years to accelerate its globalization, and 15 billion of those yen (or about $105 million) will be going toward Godzilla projects, including the Godzilla Minus One follow-up!

It’s not clear how large the budget of Yamazaki’s new Godzilla movie will be. It has previously been confirmed that it will have a higher budget than Godzilla Minus One, which was reportedly made on a budget in the 10 to 15 million range. In addition to the new movie, the 15 billion yen Toho has set aside for Godzilla will also be used to make video games, merchandise, and attractions.

As for the rest of the 120 billion yet, Toho is planning to “explore content and intellectual property deals and other initiatives.” In spring 2026, they will be launching a membership service called TOHO-ONE, “which will provide access to cinemas, plays, merchandise and games on a digital platform.” Bloomberg notes that Toho is shifting their focus on the global market “as domestic growth is expected to slow over the coming decades due to an aging population. It aims to increase its overseas sales ratio from 10% to 30% by its 100th anniversary in 2032.”

Godzilla Minus One saw an already devastated postwar Japan facing a new threat in the form of Godzilla. Toho’s Koji Ueda provided the synopsis: “Set in a post-war Japan, Godzilla Minus One will once again show us a Godzilla that is a terrifying and overwhelming force, which you already get a sense of from the teaser trailer and poster. The concept is that Japan, which had already been devastated by the war, faces a new threat with Godzilla, bringing the country into the ‘minus.’“ The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki, with music by Naoki Sato. Interestingly, one of Yamazaki’s previous credits is the 2007 film Always: Sunset on Third Street 2, which features a Godzilla cameo in a fantasy sequence. 

Details on Yamazaki’s follow-up have not been revealed, but the filmmaker was always open about the fact that he was hoping to get the chance to make a sequel. He has said, “I would certainly like to see what the sequel would look like. I know that Shikishima’s war seems over, and we’ve reached this state of peace and calm – but perhaps [it’s the] calm before the storm, and the characters have not yet been forgiven for what has been imposed upon them. … I don’t know that anyone has pulled off a more serious tone of kaiju-versus-kaiju with human drama, and that challenge is something that I’d like to explore. When you have movies that feature [kaiju battles], I think it’s very easy to put the spotlight and the camera on this massive spectacle, and it detaches itself from the human drama component.” He went on to say that he would have to “make sure that the human drama and whatever’s happening between [the] kaiju both have meaning, and both are able to affect one another in terms of plot development.“

What do you think of Toho investing so much money into a globalization strategy and Godzilla projects? Are you looking forward to the Godzilla Minus One follow-up? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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