Godzilla Minus Zero director hopes film prompts reflection on war

Director Takashi Yamazaki hopes Godzilla Minus Zero makes war and nuclear weapons feel personal to viewers.

The film opened in Japan and set a record for first-day revenue by a live-action film there, earning 910 million yen.

Set in 1949, it follows a couple rebuilding their lives after the events of Godzilla Minus One, until another disaster involving Godzilla and a second monster disrupts their peace.

Godzilla has long served as a metaphor for nuclear destruction and war, and Yamazaki says the new film explores those themes more deeply.

He researched in Hiroshima and says he wants to portray the atomic bombing accurately, drawing on what he learned from survivors and their families.

The project also connects to discussion of Oppenheimer, which does not show the destruction of Hiroshima or Nagasaki; Yamazaki considered a Japanese perspective on the bomb through a Godzilla story.