Godzilla Minus Zero teaser hints at King Ghidorah's return

The full-length teaser for Godzilla Minus Zero was been released by Toho. Although the studio hasn't yet revealed the identity of its second monster, the film makes it clear that King Ghidorah will return to terrorise postwar Japan both with and against the King of the Monsters.

Everything we know about Godzilla Minus Zero so far

The story is continued two years later in the sequel to Godzilla Minus One, which captivated viewers and went on to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 2023. In a country undergoing reconstruction, Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe play Koichi and Noriko again while continuing to raise their adopted daughter Akiko. For what is being described as Japan's first-ever IMAX production, director Takashi Yamazaki, who also handled visual effects on the original, is back behind the camera.

Deep into the new trailer, a character warns, "Don't worry, this isn't Godzilla we are talking about," just as a second monstrous shriek rips through the soundtrack and Godzilla himself is shown plummeting from the sky, scorched. Sharp-eared viewers immediately clocked the roar as unmistakably Ghidorah's. The trailer also features golden lightning and gravity-warping destruction consistent with Ghidorah's signature Gravity Beams — effects the three-headed space dragon is famous for across decades of Godzilla lore. One of Ghidorah's long-standing nicknames in franchise canon is Monster Zero is a none-too-subtle echo of this film's title.

Minus One worked in part because it kept its threat singular — one unstoppable Godzilla against a country with nothing left to fight back with. Pitting him against Ghidorah pushes Minus Zero into full kaiju-versus-kaiju territory, raising the stakes for both the humans and the monster at the centre of the story.

The makeover of Ghidorah has been tightly concealed by Toho, so viewers will have to wait to see the creature up close. There won't be much waiting: Before it opens in theatres in Japan on November 3 and North America on November 6, Godzilla Minus Zero makes its premiere at the New York Film Festival.

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