'Godzilla Minus Zero' Aims for Best Picture After NYFF Acclaim

Takashi Yamazaki's "Godzilla Minus Zero," the sequel to the film that made franchise history at the 96th Academy Awards, premiered to rave reviews at the New York Film Festival on Saturday — and the conversation has already shifted to a Best Picture nomination.

"Godzilla Minus One" won Best Visual Effects at the 2024 ceremony, becoming the first Godzilla film ever to win an Oscar. Some fans now believe the sequel could push further, into the Academy's top category.

Asked at the NYFF premiere about that prospect, a visibly thrilled Yamazaki told Variety: "I mean, I try not to think about that. And this was true of 'Godzilla Minus One' as well. We had no idea we were going to get Best VFX, or even be nominated. Even a nomination was already a win for us with 'Godzilla Minus One.' So I try not to think about it, but at the same time, if the possibility is not zero, it's hard not to have a little bit of hope."

The original VFX win was an unlikely feat. Yamazaki made "Godzilla Minus One" on a budget of just $15 million, working with a visual effects team of 35 artists who created 610 effects shots. The film beat a lineup of Hollywood heavyweights: Disney's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," Paramount's "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" and Apple's "Napoleon."

The historic nomination also carried a personal milestone. Yamazaki, who began his career in visual effects, became the first feature director recognized in the visual effects category since Stanley Kubrick for "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"It's going to take me a few years to process what has happened and what it all means," Yamazaki told Variety on the awards circuit in 2023. "But I have to thank Godzilla for opening the door and paving the way and making it to the Oscars."

Now Yamazaki is competing in the VFX race again. Variety chief awards editor Clayton Davis currently lists "Godzilla Minus Zero" among the five films he predicts will receive Best Visual Effects nominations in January, alongside "Dune: Part Three," "Project Hail Mary," "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and "Wildwood."

The Best Picture question is thornier. The Academy has increasingly made room for effects-heavy genre films, but "Minus Zero" must convince voters it is more than another installment in the Godzilla franchise — much as "Joker" and "Dune" overcame their IP-genre origins through prestige auteur filmmaking.

If Yamazaki's sequel manages that leap, it would cap a trajectory that began with a $15 million underdog beating Hollywood's biggest studios at their own game.