Toho Chief Says US Success for Godzilla Minus One Was 'a Coincidence'
Toho's chief executive says the American run of Godzilla Minus One was not planned. Speaking at the Tokyo International Film Festival on Thursday, Matsuoka Hiro told an Academy session that the North American release changed how his studio thinks about the global market. Variety reported his remarks from the session, which he held with Bill Kramer, chief executive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The film took $57.1 million in North America, which means the United States and Canada, according to Variety. Matsuoka said the chance arose on a trip to the US, where cinema owners told him Hollywood studios were not making enough films to meet audience demand. Some of them suggested Toho look at anime. That, he said, made him realise how popular Japanese animation had become in America.
Toho already owned the Godzilla character, so the company decided to bring the franchise to American audiences itself. Matsuoka said some colleagues were worried. Toho had struggled in the past to distribute its films successfully outside Japan.
He was blunt about how it happened. "It was all a coincidence," he said. "It wasn't a strategy; we just tried."
Toho bought US distributor Gkids in 2024, and that company will handle the next film. Godzilla Minus Zero, directed by Yamazaki Takashi, opens in Japan on 3 November and in North America on 6 November. Toho has said the new film is its highest priority.
Matsuoka also spoke about the wider film business. He described cinemas and streaming services as "more like coexisting than enemies." On artificial intelligence, he called it a tool that could make workflows more efficient, while warning companies to watch its effects closely.
Kramer added that 25% of the Academy's voting members are based outside the United States. He said the Academy still rewards human authorship and creation as the industry changes with AI.
For Toho, the next test comes in November. A film from the same franchise, this time released through a company it owns, will show whether the American audience that came for the first film returns for the second.
