OSCARS: “Godzilla-1.0” won Best Visual Effects
The 96th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 11 (Japan time) at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, USA, and “Godzilla Minus One” directed by Takashi Yamazaki won the Best Visual Effects Award. It was the first Asian film, as well as a Japanese film, to win this award.
This film, the 30th live-action Godzilla produced in Japan, is set in a postwar Japan that has been reduced to a charred wasteland, and Godzilla suddenly appears, striking down the people who have lost everything. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and co-stars Mina Hamabe, Hiroki Yamada, Takataka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, Kuranosuke Sasaki, and other members of the splendid cast.
In the U.S., the film opened last December in 2,308 theaters, the largest number ever for a Japanese live-action film, and ranked third in the weekend box-office rankings. It became the highest-grossing Japanese-produced Godzilla series of all time, and also topped the opening box office for non-English-language foreign films in 2023. In addition, it became the first Japanese live-action film in 34 years to break the record and rank first all-time in the U.S. box office.
This is the first time a Japanese film has been nominated in the Visual Effects Award category. The film outshone strong rivals “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Guardians of the Galaxy: VOLUME 3,” “The Creator,” and “Napoleon,” all of which were nominated for the same award.
Award Comments
Having started my career over 40 years ago with the shock of seeing “Star Wars” and “Encounter of the Unknowns,” this was a place I never imagined even wanting.
At the moment of our nomination, we were truly Rocky Balboa. It was already a miracle that we were allowed to stand in the ring in front of our mighty rivals. But here we are now. To all of you who aspire to be in VFX far from this place! Hollywood has proved that you have the right to challenge yourselves!
“Finally, on behalf of the staff and cast, I would like to say to our producer, Mr. Shuji Abe, who we lost last year. We did it!” Thank you very much.
YAHOO NEWS
March 11, 2024
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/3731cfeaebc18fb3d6937a93264e14631d5d344b
