It goes without saying that out of all the fictional monsters out there, Godzilla is an absolutely S-tier character that can completely capture the audience’s attention the moment it shows up on the screen. One could say that the monster is nothing short of a pop culture icon! You would think that since Godzilla has shown up in so many movies, video games, TV shows, and more, fans would be over it by now, but no.
This was proved by director Takashi Yamazaki who came out with Godzilla Minus One last year, a film that was met with critical acclaim. Considered one of the best additions to the Godzilla universe, the Japanese film has fans wondering when and if they’ll get a sequel to it. Well, if it’s up to Takashi Yamazaki, not only will there be a sequel, but you will also get to see a Hollywood A-lister in the film!
Director Wants to Hire Hollywood A-Listers for Godzilla Minus One sequel
Back in November 2023, Godzilla Minus One made big waves in the film industry. Despite being made on a budget of around $10-12 million, it was able to bag $106 million dollars at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing Japanese Godzilla film ever. On Rotten Tomatoes, both critics and audience gave the film an impressive score of 98%.
Since everyone seems to have loved the film, it only makes sense for a sequel to happen sometime in the future. Talking to Rotten Tomatoes at the 2024 Oscars Luncheon, director Takashi Yamazaki expressed his interest in directing a sequel.
“Right now, ‘Godzilla Minus One’ has opened up a lot of doors as a lot of producers and other creative talent in the U.S. have reached out to me to work on something together. But, needless to say, I think hopefully there’s a sequel somewhere in there. I want to give a huge shoutout to all the ‘Godzilla’ fans in the U.S. Hang tight.”
He also stated that he would love to have a Hollywood A-lister in the cast, someone who would be willing to work for just one-fifth or twenty percent of their usual paychecks.
“I think it would certainly be fun to have an international cast on my next film, hypothetically speaking, and if I were to make one. So that certainly opens up possibilities to an international cast. But that being said, the budgets in Japan are definitely a lot smaller compared to Hollywood. I don’t know if we’ll be able to hire any Hollywood talent. That might take our entire movie budget. But I certainly want to work with someone. And I think the cast in ‘Oppenheimer,’ for example, did an amazing job. Just the performance they were able to achieve. So if you know any A-list talent who loved ‘Godzilla’ so much that they’d do it for one-fifth of their normal rate, let me know.”
Well, since Yamazaki loved the casting of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer so much, it would be great to see Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy take on the next chapter of Godzilla Minus One, despite the pay cut they would be getting. Hopefully, the script will be incredible enough to convince the stars!
Takashi Yamazaki’s Plans for a Future Godzilla Film
Clearly, Yamazaki has thoughts about someday coming out with yet another addition to the Godzilla franchise. The question, though, is what does he have in mind for a possible sequel? Speaking with Hobby Japan last month, the Ghost Book Obakezukan director revealed that if a sequel did happen, he would want to include an enemy monster in the film.
“There is no such story at all…If I were to direct the next movie, I would like to do a sequel to this one, but since there have been 2 standalone Godzilla movies in a row, I think the next movie will probably have to include an enemy monster.”
Now that would be a nail-biting watch! Yamazaki also told ComingSoon.net that if he were to direct the successor to Godzilla Minus One, he wouldn’t start on a clean slate but would rather prefer to continue the stories of the characters in the original film. Original characters and an enemy monster? Sign us up!
Godzilla Minus One is not available on streaming platforms just yet.
