It may have taken 70 years, but at last, Godzilla has taken on the Academy Awards and won. Over the weekend, fans watched as Godzilla Minus One took home a well-deserved Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The award marks a first for the Godzilla IP as the kaiju has never been honored by The Academy Awards before. And in a recent interview, the president of Toho Company admits he almost kept Godzilla Minus One from the awards entirely.
The confession comes from Nikkei as Hiroyasu Matsuoka sat down to chat about Godzilla Minus One. It was there the president of Toho Company admitted he did not want to even submit the movie for nomination to the Oscars.
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“Let’s not enter a nomination application for Best Visual Effects, it’s just not possible. The cost of visual effects for Godzilla Minus One is an order of magnitude different from that of a Hollywood blockbuster. I didn’t think it was even possible,” he shared.
However, Matsuoka’s mind was changed after one of his colleagues noted something important. The application fee for nomination consideration was just $200 bucks. The price was cheap enough to make Matsuoka think twice, and eventually, he put in the paperwork. At the time, Matsuoka felt the application alone would shine prestige on Godzilla Minus One, and then the film industry embraced the movie like no one saw coming.
As you can imagine, Matsuoka is definitely happy he submitted the application when he did. Godzilla Minus One is not only one of the IP’s best films to date, but it is one of the top films of 2023. With a budget of under $15 million, director Takashi Yamazaki got creative with his work, and the entire team at Toho Company came together to create a true masterpiece. So if any Godzilla entry was going to take down the Academy Awards, we’re glad it was Godzilla Minus One.
What do you think about this Godzilla Minus One slip…? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!
