Global film and TV studio FIFTH SEASON has secured a wave of global broadcast and digital sales for the Japanese epic kaiju film Godzilla Minus One (2023), the latest installment in the internationally-renowned Godzilla franchise, on behalf of its strategic investment partner Toho International. Godzilla Minus One was produced by Toho Studios and Robot Communications, and received widespread critical acclaim and box office success for its theatrical release in 2023.
The deals inked by FIFTH SEASON include Talpa TV (Netherlands), peppermint anime gmbh (Germany and German-speaking Europe), TVN (Poland), RTL (Hungary), TV Azteca (Mexico), SVT (Sweden) and RTV Slovenija (Slovenia). Additionally, Godzilla Minus One is launching on digital platforms iTunes, Amazon and Google in the UK and Germany, and on iTunes, Fetch and Google in Australia, in March this year.
Godzilla Minus One has grossed more than $110 million worldwide, winning the award for ‘Best Visual Effects’ at the 96th Academy Awards® and becoming the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2023. The film surpassed Shin Godzilla as the most successful Japanese Godzilla film, and won eight awards at the 47th Japan Academy Film Prize in 2024.
Jennifer Ebell, EVP of EMEA Sales and Acquisitions at FIFTH SEASON, said, “Godzilla Minus One has proven to be a hit both at the box offices and on the awards circuit, cementing itself as the tentpole movie of the iconic franchise with some of the best Godzilla sequences ever put to screen. Through our strategic partnership with Toho International, we’re able to leverage synergies between our two companies – and work to seed their elevated and world-class content internationally. We’re proud to be handling one of their most successful titles to date as we bring Godzilla Minus One to a range of new homes all around the world, and maximize both value and viewership of the project with further transactional output deals rolling out imminently.”
Post-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the bomb. Haunted by the horrors of World War II, guilt-ridden kamikaze pilot Koichi returns home to find a decimated Tokyo. Koichi tries to find his feet, but another destructive challenge awaits him and the country. With the fragile newfound peace hanging by a thread, Koichi has one last chance to right a wrong and clear his name before an unstoppable monstrosity makes it to Ginza. But the mutated behemoth is indestructible. Can a gutless mortal defy Godzilla, the king of monsters?
Godzilla Minus One was written, directed and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. Minami Ichikawa led the production, and Go Abe and Keichiro Moriya were producers for Robot Communications. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Munetaka Aoki, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki.
