Godzilla's First Oscar Win In 2024 Is Way More Impressive Than You Think
After 70 years of cinematic excellence and pop-culture dominance, Godzilla has finally won his first Academy Award. Or, rather, "Godzilla Minus One" director and special effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki and his VFX team won the Oscar for best visual effects, which is the first in the long history of the kaiju franchise (as well as its first nomination). It's also the first time that a Japanese film has won in that particular category.
#GodzillaMinusOne wins achievement in visual effects at the 2024 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/FV4MMG310Q
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 11, 2024
If you've seen the film, you'll know that the win is well-earned. Toho's famous monster may have never been more terrifying than he is in "Minus One," which portrays him as a brutally violent avatar of rage and pain come to decimate Japan in the wake of World War II. The action sequences starring Godzilla are jaw-dropping — so much so that you might be shocked to know how small of a budget the film actually had.
Yamazaki made the movie on a reported budget of $15 million dollars — less than a tenth of what the biggest Hollywood blockbusters cost these days, including competitors in the category like "Napoleon" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3." That's a huge part of why "Godzilla Minus One" blew everyone away at the box office. In Hollywood, it's a staggeringly low amount of money, yet it yielded one of the most celebrated films of 2023 and has now earned the big kaiju himself a long-overdue Academy Award. That's a testament to the ingenuity of Yamazaki and his team, but it can also be seen as a strong indictment of a modern film industry that's become too reliant on bloated budgets and post-production upgrades — many of which are ultimately panned by critics and audiences alike.
What's next for Takashi Yamazaki after Godzilla Minus One?
Though he's already had an impressive career, claiming an Academy Award will put Takashi Yamazaki on the global map in a whole new way. What's next for the talented director remains to be seen, but he's teased a few possibilities.
One might lead him to a galaxy far, far away. "I watched 'Star Wars,' and that's how I ended up being a filmmaker," Yamazaki told SlashFilm in 2023. "I'm really hoping I will get a call and they will bring me on 'Star Wars.'" Given Disney CEO Bob Iger's recent emphasis on reducing production costs across the board, Lucasfilm might benefit from a director and sci-fi expert who knows how to keep budgets low while still delivering a fantastic product.
In his Oscars acceptance speech, Yamazaki named both "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" as huge inspirations for his work. Though he shares the award with his team, he enters particularly prestigious company with his victory, becoming the first director since Stanley Kubrick on "2001: A Space Odyssey" to win the Oscar for best visual effects. It's unclear right now if a direct sequel to "Godzilla Minus One" could ever happen, but whatever Yamazaki ends up working on next may have eyes on it from around the world. At the end of his acceptance speech, he called the win "proof that everyone has a chance."
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