Happy Godzilla Day, everyone! It is that time of the year again where fans come together to celebrate another anniversary of the Godzilla franchise. Every November 3rd since 2021, Toho Co. would have a festival at the Hibiya Godzilla Square that lasts the whole day. This year, the franchise turns 70 and we have been celebrating the 70th anniversary of the franchise since last year's anniversary. Ever since last year, there was supposed to be a lot of stuff for Godzilla that would lead up to this anniversary. We did see stuff happen lead up to now such as Godzilla Minus One winning an Oscar (a first for the franchise), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters getting a second season, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire having released this year.
For this year's anniversary, I didn't expect a whole lot to happen. In my last post, I mentioned that I was not expecting a new movie to be announced and if there was then there would not learn any information on the new movie until next year. As it turned out, a new Godzilla movie did get announced by both Toho Co. and Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki and we learned that Yamazaki is returning to direct the new movie. This was announced on November 1st ahead of Godzilla Day festivities.
The director did come to the show, but he didn't really talk about the new movie. All that was mentioned is that he had been given the go ahead on making the movie from Toho. He was really there to talk more about his experience in making Godzilla Minus One, his reaction to being nominated and winning an Oscar, and his experience in America (at least that was the rough context I got from the pictures he was sharing).
Because the new movie had just been green-lit by Toho Co., there was no new information on what this movie is going to be. We can easily speculate that this could be a direct sequel to Godzilla Minus One. The movie did very well in both Japan and overseas and the movie did end on a cliffhanger. The hard part would have to be how he is going to outdo himself because Godzilla Minus One was really that good. Yamazaki has stated it would most likely be a "versus" movie, but trying to balance the story with the spectacle is the real challenge. He did state in an interview he would be interested in remaking Godzilla vs Hedorah. So maybe that is what this next movie could be.
What I feel makes the most sense from this movie is to make it a "loose" sequel would be the direction to take. Have the new movie be mostly a stand alone movie, but keep Godzilla's current design and sprinkle some references to Godzilla Minus One to tie-in both movies. This is what Godzilla movies from the Showa era had done. They were all loose sequels that were more or less stand alone films, but you saw other monsters from other films brought in or the characters would sometimes reference events from other movies.
I do think the next time we hear about this movie will be next anniversary. It just seems like Godzilla Day is the preferred time when Toho Co. announces these projects now. This all started in 2020 when Godzilla: Singular Point was announced for that anniversary and then Godzilla Minus One in 2022 and now this movie. So we will have to wait and see what happens at next year's anniversary.
For most of this year’s Godzilla-Fest it was mainly about the merchandising. It was about the action figures, the clothing, the food, the mobile app “Godzilla: Battle Line,” and cross-promotional items such as the “Godzilla x Digimon” crossover digivice. The main reason fans sit through all of this is for the short films, which there was only one this time for the King Ghidorah 60th anniversary. There was no official short film for the MechaGodzilla 50th anniversary. MechaGodzilla got the short end of the stick only getting a few minute panel talk show. There was a fan-made short film made by a high schooler who did everything (the modeling and animation) in Blender, which is very impressive. The fan-made short is called "MechaGodzilla: Absolute Zero" and this was even shared by Takashi Yamazaki himself. Despite how short it is and the amount of time he had it is still impressive what this fan was capable to make by himself. So I suggest checking it out.
As for the actual short film, Godzilla-Fest 5: Battle Among The Monsters (aka All Monsters Showdown), this was a really fun short film by Toho Co. When I saw the short film of Godzilla vs Hedorah from 2021 anniversary event, I was not impress with that short film. It really made me think that the suits should be retired completely. Then, when we had the Gigan Attacks short film the next year the quality of the films looked a lot better. The films looked more dynamic. The choreography of the fights were more dynamic and less goofy from vs Hedorah. The films were shot at better angles that made everything look as though you were a part of the fight. The same is said for Operation Jet Jaguar. The choreography of the fights and the way the film was shot were a lot more dynamic.
In Battle Among The Monsters, the fight was good overall. Not my most favorite short film, but it was still a fun watch. I really loved how Jet Jaguar obtained an upgrade and they were the claws from Gigan and Godzilla used his beam on the claws so J.J. could slice one of Ghidorah's heads off. That was such a cool call back to Godzilla vs Kong when Godzilla used his beam on Kong's axe so Kong could deal more damage to MechaGodzilla.
When it comes down to it this short film is not going to stay up for very long. BUT there is good news and slight bad news. It turns out that there will be a Blu-Ray release for all 5 of the short films. The Blu-Ray is $40 on the Godzilla Store website and releases April 16th, 2025. Fans have been asking Toho for a long time to find a way to make the short films available and it seems like they did listen. The slight bad news is that this release is only available in Japan. At this time, there is no release for the United States nor anywhere else. If you plan on getting this Blu-Ray you will need to look for a third party to get it. I do hope that it does become available in all territories at a later date. Many fans have been asking Toho for a way to preserve them and would be a shame if it is only available in Japan.
I will be honest, I felt as though they made this short film as if this was going to be the last short film. It had Godzilla leave into the sunset and a montage of the previous short films similarly to how Godzilla: Final Wars ended. Maybe I am overthinking it and there could be another one next year, but that is what I got from this one. Who knows? Maybe next year we will get a MechaGodzilla short film, but Toho had not announced any other anniversaries for next year.
I want to know what your thoughts are on this Godzilla Day. What would you like to see from the new film? Do you think it will be a sequel, a new movie, or somewhere in the middle? What are your thoughts on the short film? Was it your favorite out of the five? Leave a comment in the comments section of your thoughts on this Godzilla Day. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, Gab, and TRUTH Social to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.