Godzilla Minus One released to critical acclaim late last year, quickly becoming the most successful Japanese Godzilla film. Passing $100 million in the global box office this month, Takashi Yamazaki’s brainchild has been certified an international hit. Yamazaki wrote, directed, and was the visual effects supervisor of the film, created on a budget of less than $15 million.
Nolan continues to be particular about the medium of film, even on home release
Godzilla Minus One has all but disappeared from theaters, but Yamazaki has revealed that this won’t be for long. In an homage to the original Godzilla films from the 1950’s, the writer/director has remastered the film in black and white for a short, limited run in theaters from January 26 through February 1st. This isn’t a simple black and white filter effect being placed over the film, either. Each cut of film has been painstakingly reprocessed to resemble a monochrome photograph. As the film takes place during and shortly after the events of World War II, the new edit of the film is designed to evoke an emotional response from the audience.
“Rather than just making it monochrome, it is a cut-by-cut,” Yamakazi explained in a statement for the re-release. “I had them make adjustments while making full use of various mattes as if they were creating a new movie. What I was aiming for was a style that looked like it was taken by masters of monochrome photography. We were able to unearth the texture of the skin and the details of the scenery that were hidden in the photographed data. Then, a frightening Godzilla, just like the one in the documentary, appeared. By eliminating color, a new sense of reality emerges.”
