Report Claims Toho Is Finally Developing A Sequel To ‘Shin Godzilla’ After Ten Years
Toho wants to expand heavily and aggressively, with Godzilla becoming more popular around the world. The first and most practical step at this time is to follow up with a sequel to Godzilla Minus One. However, the Japanese studio had another hit Godzilla film a decade ago that they seemed to forget about amidst all the commotion.
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That’s a shame, but Toho is reportedly looking to circle back and rectify a mistake they made with Shin Godzilla: capitalizing with a sequel. Yes, it sounds like something is finally in the works after all these years. And this isn’t some errant rumor from social media or an internet forum. A major business news outlet has shared this information.
Bloomberg reports in a much larger article about Toho’s expansion plans, “Building on Godzilla Minus One’s performance, Toho is planning a sequel for as soon as next year, plus a potential sequel to the film Shin Godzilla and a still-untitled Southeast Asia-focused project.”
“Potential” is the operative word. Toho may be just considering this internally and throwing things out there to impress people who glance at their portfolio. Minus One’s sequel and the returning involvement of writer/director/effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki are the only things officially on the books.
They may also be reluctant to create conflict between competing projects if Shin’s second installment is live-action. Fortunately, they can go in any direction, such as an anime or even a video game. They sort of already went the former route with Godzilla Singular Point a few years ago, reworking Godzilla’s evolution and throwing in some time displacement while at it.
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Shin placed Godzilla as a metaphor in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which included monsoons, massive flooding, and a nuclear meltdown. The Japanese governmental emergency response was lacking and only made things worse.
The film depicted a similar scenario in darkly comic fashion, where rooms full of officials kept having meetings. In one instance, a new Prime Minister is appointed, and he feels doomed because his noodles are too soggy.
It did well commercially, although paling in comparison to Minus One, grossing 8.25 billion yen or roughly $78 million in American money. Another $80 million was brought in overseas to make Shin Godzilla the highest-earning Godzilla movie in Japan’s history. Awards were collected at the Japanese version of the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.
A sequel should’ve been a no-brainer, but writer/director Hideaki Anno preferred for it to stand on its own merits. A proposal was submitted to introduce a Shin Anguirus in a reversion to monster battles, and one would have further explored Godzilla’s evolution, but they went nowhere. At least, they didn’t until now.
Talk of a second Shin Godzilla could die down again, but Toho is deep enough into production of Minus One’s +1 that they can pretty much ensure a 2026 release.
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