GODZILLA MINUS ZERO Makes Franchise History With the First-Ever R Rating
Godzilla is officially entering R-rated territory. Godzilla Minus Zero, the upcoming sequel to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, has become the first movie in the long-running Godzilla franchise to receive an R-rating.
After more than 70 years of the King of the Monsters crushing cities, battling kaiju, and generally making life miserable for anyone unfortunate enough to be standing nearby, the franchise is finally pushing into more graphic territory.
The film has been rated R for “some violent content/bloody images.” Considering Godzilla Minus One already made its monster attacks feel frighteningly destructive, an R-rating opens the door for Takashi Yamazaki to make the sequel even more brutal. He’s also handling the visual effects again, so whatever carnage is coming should look incredible.
The latest trailer revealed that King Ghidorah is joining the fight, putting one of Godzilla’s most famous enemies back on the battlefield. The footage also teases some wild gravity-defying action, and it looks like Yamazaki has found a way to increase the scale without losing the human drama that made the previous movie work so well.
Godzilla Minus Zero takes place two years after Godzilla Minus One and brings audiences back to the Shikishima family. Ryunosuke Kamiki returns as Koichi Shikishima, while Minami Hamabe is back as Noriko.
Their relationship gave the first movie its emotional core, and it sounds like Yamazaki plans to put the family through another nightmare. While discussing the sequel at CinemaCon, the filmmaker teased just how rough things are going to get:
“In this new film, an even deeper despair will descend upon Japan and the Shikishima family,” Yamazaki said. “When faced with an overwhelming and inescapable force, how do people fight back? The journey from Minus to Zero will not be an easy one.”
Between Godzilla, King Ghidorah, bloody imagery, and a story promising even more trouble for the Shikishima family, Godzilla Minus Zero sounds like it could be one hell of a great Kaiju movie.
The R-rating is also an interesting first for a franchise that dates back to 1954. Godzilla has gone through countless interpretations over the decades, from terrifying nuclear-age monster to heroic defender and everything in between.
Minus One brought the character back to his frightening roots while surrounding the destruction with characters audiences genuinely cared about.
Now Yamazaki gets to take that approach further with Godzilla Minus Zero, and apparently the MPAA decided things get savage enough this time to warrant an R.
Godzilla Minus Zero hits theaters November 6.