Godzilla Minus Zero Director Discusses Steven Spielberg Influence on Sequel

The most exciting sci-fi blockbuster set to conclude an epic story this year is not Avengers: Doomsday. It is not Dune: Part Three, either. The cinematic spectacle of 2026 is Godzilla Minus Zero, which brings a conclusion to the story director Takashi Yamazaki launched three years earlier with Godzilla Minus One.

“There is no third time,” a trailer promises. “Everything ends here.”

If you prefer to go into Godzilla Minus Zero knowing as little as possible, that is understandable. If you want to learn more about the upcoming kaiju movie, Polygon gathered new details from Takashi Yamazaki as part of the 2026 Fall Preview.

Takashi Yamazaki answers two questions about Godzilla Minus Zero below without spoilers.

Polygon: You’ve said that Jaws, among other movies, influenced your work on Godzilla Minus One. Are there any other classic monster movies you’re referencing in Minus Zero?

Takashi Yamazaki: Monster movies are such an integral part of me that it would be hard for me to put a finger on which specific influences made its way into this film. But if I were to give a few examples, the way I did a couple of long chase sequences was based on Children of Men. That opening sequence was a very long single take. That sense of suffocation that we experience in that sequence was partial inspiration for this film.

Also Spielberg’s War of the Worlds in the way that the space weapons relentlessly attacked human beings. It is visually told in the perspective from the human beings, but in those sequences, that relentlessness and inescapability is something I brought to this film as well.

What are the challenges of filming for IMAX? What are the advantages? Does Godzilla look bigger in IMAX?

To talk about the challenges of course we’re dealing with a completely different aspect ratio. It would be great if we could have shot everything in camera, but of course with a spectacle like this and with that IMAX ratio we have to add in a lot of computer graphics and a lot of rendering for what we had to show in the IMAX aspect ratio. We also have to service different formats as well, such as Cinemascope, so it was a bit of a challenge to serve so many different aspect ratios on top of IMAX.

What comes with it is that of course we’re depicting a huge, gargantuan kaiju here and that is a very good match with a gargantuan screen. We are almost able to give you a sense of actually showing you the actual configuration, or that you’re seeing the kaiju in life size. Not quite, but almost a life size version of that.

Again, it’s the type of film that fits very well with the IMAX systems. Yes, Godzilla will feel bigger on IMAX. You will feel like you are thrown in front of the kaiju when you are watching it on an IMAX screen. So that’s one thing that you can enjoy.

Not to say I am negating other formats. When I saw the film in Cinemascope, it felt like true cinema to me. So I think that’s one way of enjoying it. I saw the film in Dolby cinema the other day and I really liked how the colors turned out. The colors were beautiful and the blacks were blacker, giving a lot of dimension to the visuals. Each format has its own attraction, and you will be able to enjoy it in the various formats it comes out in.

Godzilla Minus Zero arrives Nov. 6 in U.S. theaters.

Source: Polygon