In 2023, Godzilla Minus One emerged as the new king of the monster movies. It was the first to win producers at Toho an Academy Award, and it brought the storied franchise back to its original mandate, depicting Godzilla as a destructive force of nature while a cast of capable people banded together to defeat him. But before Minus One, there was 2016’s Shin Godzilla, which deserves just as much credit for reinvigorating the saga. It debuted two years after Gareth Edwards rebooted the property for American audiences with his own Godzilla film, which kickstarted Legendary’s MonsterVerse. Though Shin Godzilla never sired a saga of its own, it’s still a damn good story.
Though it’s one of the better Godzilla movies to come out in the past decade, and scored big at the Japanese box office and awards circuit, Shin Godzilla didn’t get much traction stateside, screening in American theaters for only two weeks before moving to streaming. Fortunately, it’s about to get another chance to make its mark. With a new 4K remaster in the books, Toho and GKIDS Films are bringing Shin Godzilla back for another tour in North American theaters.
