‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Leaves the Room on Its Feet as Roaring Standing Ovation Hits Yamazaki and Its Stars

Few sequels carry as much weight as the follow-up to a surprise phenomenon. ‘Godzilla Minus One’ came out of nowhere in 2023, won an Oscar and reminded the world that the King of the Monsters could still deliver something special. Now ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is making its way to audiences, and the early crowd response suggests the wait may be paying off.

The first film was made for a modest $10 million to $15 million and grossed more than $113 million worldwide. It won Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards, the first Oscar in the franchise’s history and the first for a non-English language film in the category. That success is why Toho executives started asking about a follow-up almost as soon as they saw the first cut.

A premiere screening of the sequel has just ended with the kind of reaction filmmakers dream about. As soon as the credits began to roll, the crowd rose in a standing ovation for writer-director Takashi Yamazaki and stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe. The trio stood in front of the audience as applause filled the room.

It echoes earlier scenes from the film’s festival debut. Variety reported that the world premiere at the New York Film Festival’s Alice Tully Hall was a rapturous event that “blew the roof off” the venue, and that the film had earned rave first reactions from the press earlier that day.

GODZILLA MINUS ZERO premiere screening just finished and as soon as the credits began to roll, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation for writer-director Takashi Yamazaki and stars Ryunosuke Kamiki & Minami Hamabe. https://t.co/kMHQfPIl1V

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) October 29, 2026

‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ continues the story in postwar Japan, following ‘Minus One’ and set two years after it. Kamiki and Hamabe return, along with Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Miou Tanaka, Sakura Ando and Hidetaka Yoshioka. Min Tanaka, Masami Nagasawa and Jun Kunimura join as new characters.

The film is also a technical first. It is the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX, and the trailers have teased the return of King Ghidorah. Yamazaki again writes, directs and supervises the visual effects.

Another headline is the rating. ‘Minus Zero’ is the first Godzilla film to earn an R in the United States, for violent content and bloody images, though it is rated G in Japan. Yamazaki told Variety that securing the rating was “essential to the film,” even though a studio and a director usually want as many people as possible to see a movie.

It marks a major shift for the franchise. The action reportedly gets bloodier and more intense, which aligns with the film’s push for a bigger, more serious monster epic.

Reviews have been strong, though not unanimous. The film debuted at around 93% to 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and currently sits near that range across dozens of reviews, while the first film holds 99%. On Metacritic, early reviews put it at 78, compared with 81 for ‘Minus One’.

Many critics called it bigger and bolder, praising its blend of human drama and kaiju mayhem, and some argued it surpasses the original. Others weren’t as convinced, with IGN giving it a 7/10, Slashfilm a 7.5/10 and Screen Rant a 5/10. Several reviews noted that the human story isn’t as cohesive as in the first film.

The new trailer for ‘GODZILLA MINUS ZERO’ has been released. In theaters on November 6. https://t.co/sgaEXweerd

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 8, 2026

Given the pedigree of the original, the sequel has also drawn awards chatter. After the New York premiere, Yamazaki addressed Best Picture hopes, though he appears to be keeping expectations in check. Its visual effects, which Yamazaki oversees, give it a natural route into that category as well.

Whether it can repeat the original’s Oscar run remains an open question. For now, the reaction from live audiences suggests that the film is connecting with the people who matter most.

The film opens in Japan on Tuesday, November 3, which is Godzilla Day, the anniversary of the original 1954 release. In North America, it opens on Friday, November 6, through GKIDS, which Toho acquired in 2024, with IMAX early-access screenings on November 3. The runtime is 2 hours and 15 minutes.

That gives fans just days to wait. If the premiere’s reception is any indication, theaters are likely to be packed.

Standing ovations at premieres aren’t proof of box office success, and festival crowds tend to be friendly. Still, a reaction like this shows the film is landing emotionally, not just visually. For a sequel with enormous expectations, it is exactly the early signal Toho and Yamazaki needed.

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