Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero will make its world premiere at the New York Film Festival next month, reported Deadline.
Yamazaki and members of the cast and crew are expected to attend the premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival, which will run from September 25 to October 12.
The sequel to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, which grossed USD 116 million worldwide and drew praise for its modestly budgeted visual effects, will premiere as a Spotlight Gala selection at Alice Tully Hall on September 26.
At the 2024 Academy Awards, Yamazaki and his visual effects team made history after the filmmaker became the first director since Stanley Kubrick to win the Best Visual Effects award, following Kubrick’s 1969 victory.
According to Deadline, the sequel is set in 1949, two years after the events of Godzilla Minus One, and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face a new series of pulse-racing events.
The film is scheduled to release in North American theatres on November 6, three days after its debut in Japan.
“It is truly an honour to introduce our film to a global audience for the first time in a place of such history and prestige. I am filled with both awe and excitement to see how far the power of Japan’s Godzilla can terrify audiences around the world, and whether they will resonate with what lies beyond that fear,” said Yamazaki as quoted by Deadline.
“More than 70 years after the first Godzilla movie, Takashi Yamazaki continues to prove that there’s life in the old franchise yet, returning to its postwar roots to locate a haunting, primal terror,” festival artistic director Dennis Lim said.
“Like its predecessor, Godzilla Minus Zero is a throwback blockbuster, a showcase for human drama and innovative craft, and we are excited to have its world premiere as this year’s NYFF Spotlight Gala,” Lim concluded as quoted by Deadline.
Yamazaki, who has credited Hollywood blockbusters with influencing his work in special effects, made his directorial debut with the 2000 film Juvenile, establishing himself in visual storytelling and visual effects in Japan.
His other credits include Sunset on Third Street, The Eternal Zero and Stand by Me Doraemon.
