Toho CEO Matsuoka Hiro told the Tokyo International Film Festival that the astonishing American success of Godzilla Minus One was never a master plan. “It wasn’t a strategy; we just tried,” Matsuoka said during an “Academy in Tokyo” Q&A alongside Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Until Takashi Yamazaki’s 2023 hit, Toho had repeatedly failed to distribute its films successfully outside Japan — particularly in the United States. Everything changed when Matsuoka, fresh in the president’s chair, visited the U.S. and the exhibitors union told him American studios were not making enough films to satisfy audience appetite. When they suggested anime, he realized anime was hugely popular stateside — and that Toho already had Godzilla.
Godzilla Minus One U.S. Success: The Numbers
The gamble paid off beyond anyone’s expectations. Godzilla Minus One opened in the U.S. in December 2023, earning more than $11.4 million on its opening weekend — the biggest Stateside debut by a foreign film that year — and going on to gross $57.1 million in North America, the highest total ever for a Japanese live-action film there. The film later won the Oscar for best visual effects in 2024.
Matsuoka admitted there was concern across Toho when he first proposed self-distributing in America instead of handing the film to a Hollywood partner. But the payoff, he said, was that the money came home: “It brought the profit to us.”
What Comes Next: Godzilla Minus Zero
The U.S. release was a turning point in Toho’s global approach. The studio has since expanded aggressively — buying animation studio Science SARU, acquiring GKIDS (the North American home of Studio Ghibli films), taking a stake in Fifth Season, and buying the British distributor Anime Limited.
Next up is the latest Godzilla film, Godzilla Minus Zero, which opens in Japan and the U.S. following its Tokyo Film Festival bow, with Toho’s GKIDS distributing across North America beginning November 6. After “just trying” once, Toho now looks like it has a strategy after all.
Godzilla Minus One (Credits: Toho / Variety)
Also Read: Toho CEO Matsuoka Hiro Reveals Why Godzilla Minus One Was Self-Distributed in the U.S. and Takashi Yamazaki’s Grandgear Casts Sam Nivola and Nico Parker, Paul Giamatti in Talks
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
