All told, there have been more than a dozen different Godzilla continuities spread out across 38 movies and nine television series. To get fans to turn their heads after that much content, you have to do something really special – something like Godzilla Minus One.
This visually stunning, critically lauded reconsideration of Japan’s most recognizable multi-story atomic lizard has been shattering expectations at the box office: It’s the most successful live-action Japanese movie in the United States, and the highest-grossing Japanese Godzilla film to date, with its upcoming black and white re-release, Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, set to take those numbers even higher.
But what about the “inside kids?” The loveable misanthropes who want to watch a monster trash a city, but don’t want to leave the house to do it? When can we expect to be able to watch Godzilla Minus One from the comfort of our sofas?
Does Godzilla Minus One have a digital release date?
There’s so much good news about Godzilla Minus One. The bad news is that all of that good news means that there’s currently no digital release date in sight for the newly-minted classic. The higher-ups at Toho Studios have been mum on the subject.
Even if they hadn’t, the unprecedented success of Godzilla Minus One makes it impossible to ballpark when the movie will hit digital storefronts. The last live action, Toho-produced Godzilla movie, Shin Godzilla, hit Japanese theaters in July of 2016, and was released on Blu-ray in its home country roughly eight months later, in March of the following year. It spent a little over a week in American cinemas in October of 2016, then landed on local digital shelves 10 months later.
That said, the excitement around Godzilla Minus One has pretty well eclipsed the Shin Godzilla zeitgeist, with the latest film managing to beat its predecessor at the box office in less time, and in a post-pandemic climate. Toho might try to keep the hype train running by making the film available sooner — or they might keep it dangling in front of prospective theatergoers for as long as they can. We’ll have to wait and see.