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Why You Can't Watch Oscar-Winner Godzilla Minus One Right Now

Godzilla Minus One Toho
By Jeremy Mathai/

It became one of the biggest box-office surprises of the year. It walked away a winner for Best Visual Effects during this past Academy Awards show, becoming the biggest and boldest underdog to do so since "Ex Machina" almost a decade prior. But now, despite its popularity culminating in an unforgettable night at the most prestigious movie ceremony of the year, the vast majority of "Godzilla Minus One" fans have absolutely no way (legally, at least) to check out the first "Godzilla" movie to ever win an Oscar.

Other than the Barbenheimer phenomenon, the rip-roaring success of the kaiju flick quickly turned into the Cinderella story of last year — if, you know, Cinderella was the size of a skyscraper and shot radioactive atomic blasts out of her mouth. Originally planned by Japanese studio Toho for a modest theatrical run in North America from December 1 to December 7, a veritable tsunami of positive word-of-mouth reactions all but forced them to keep "Godzilla Minus One" in theaters until February of 2024. Along the way, the record-breaking ticket sales led to the film cracking the $100 million benchmark worldwide, surpassing the well-received "Shin Godzilla" as Japan's highest-grossing "Godzilla" movie ever, and even earning a buzzy re-release in the form of a black-and-white cut. Not since the original movie 70 years ago has the big guy enjoyed a more acclaimed run of success, but that only makes this one negative aspect stick out all the more.

As of this moment, the movie is no longer in theaters, has yet to receive a PVOD release date, and isn't available to purchase or even preorder on physical media outside of Japan. So what gives? Reportedly, it all has to do with tricky contract language. As it turns out, Godzilla's biggest enemy ... is himself.

A not-so-Legendary deal

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Legendary/Warner Bros.

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but everything in the moviemaking business tends to come down to one factor and one factor only: Money. Sometimes, however, that capitalist pursuit can come at the expense of cutting one's nose to spite their face. Since Godzilla doesn't have much of a nose to speak of, feel free to use your imagination to find a kaiju equivalent to that expression.

Most casual audiences only know Godzilla through Hollywood's various attempts to bring him to life on the big screen (yes, that includes Roland Emmerich's 1998 disasterpiece "Godzilla"), but Japan has continued to produce plenty of their own interpretations of Gojira through Toho — many of which hardcore fans would consider to be the "definitive" adaptations over their American blockbuster counterparts. But a recent report has shed some light on the nature of their rights-sharing agreement with Legendary Entertainment, which currently licenses the franchise rights along with distributor Warner Bros. over on this side of the pond. Apparently, there's a good reason why "Godzilla Minus One" has already seemed to disappear after its theatrical window closed, and it has to do with the impending release of "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire."

According to IndieWire, the agreement between Toho and Legendary allegedly stipulates that neither studio can release a "Godzilla" movie within the same calendar year as the other. This explains why "Godzilla Minus One" received a domestic release in Japan last November, followed by an international release the following month. But while many box-office analysts raised an eyebrow over Toho's decision to pull "Minus One" from theaters by February 1 — a move that undoubtedly cost them more profits — this likely had to do with avoiding a conflict with "Godzilla x Kong," scheduled to arrive March 29, 2024.

Go go, Godzilla?

Godzilla Minus One Toho

Oscar-nominated movies almost always enjoy a significant post-Academy Awards bump both at the box office and at home, as evidenced by many of this year's entries, but "Godzilla Minus One" is conspicuously missing from the party this time around. There have been no announcements for a release on digital PVOD as of yet, while Toho just recently announced a Blu-ray release exclusive to Japan. Everyone else hoping to catch the critically-acclaimed and Oscar-winning movie in theaters or streaming at home, unfortunately, remain out of luck.

There's a certain irony in Legendary and Warner Bros.' so-called MonsterVerse movies starring Godzilla and his best bud Kong essentially cannibalizing the rollout of Toho's much darker, more serious, and ultimately more well-received adaptation. "Godzilla Minus One" director and VFX wizard Takashi Yamazaki at least had his moment to shine during his acceptance speech upon winning the Visual Effects Oscar. Still, not even an accomplishment of this magnitude could defeat the relentless might of "Godzilla x Kong" bearing down on the industry in just a few weeks.

Not all is lost for Toho, however, as the IndieWire report indicates that the Japanese studio stands to collect its cut of the profits as a result of partnering up with Legendary and Warner Bros. on the American blockbuster. Money always talks, in the end, and the powers that be stay winning ... even if most audiences will have no choice but to continue waiting on official word for when "Godzilla Minus One" will be made available to watch at home. In the meantime, fans can bask in the VFX team's unprecedented accomplishment forever shrined at the Academy Awards. Even Godzilla himself would agree that's worth celebrating.

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