Published Nov 10, 2026, 9:00 AM EST
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Godzilla Minus Zero.In 2023, the Godzilla franchise entered a brand-new era with the release of Godzilla Minus One. The film, which crucially was a Japanese production (as opposed to Legendary’s recent MonsterVerse projects), blew audiences away both in its home country and abroad. Minus One earned over $115 million at the worldwide box office, and ended up making a huge profit because of its mere $10 million produced budget.
It’s no surprise, then, that a sequel was commissioned soon after, and that follow-up is finally here. Godzilla Minus Zero, which debuted in theaters this past weekend, is a project that had huge expectations because of the success of its predecessor. Minus Zero appears to have matched, if not downright exceeded, those expectations, with a stellar $34 million opening weekend in the U.S. and a 90% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The quality of both Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla Minus Zero is so strong that it’s easy for one to forget that this franchise hasn’t always been this successful. After all, many of the 39 Godzilla movies made to date fall into the “not great” or “downright bad” category. That’s especially true for Godzilla (1998), an American remake that famously missed the mark massively.
There were many, many issues with Godzilla (1998), but arguably its greatest sin was failing to live up to its basic premise. This film promised to take Godzilla and move his destruction to New York City, but a poor script, and lackluster Godzilla design, meant that this promise was never fulfilled.
It’s ironic, then, that Godzilla Minus Zero ends up being the film that fulfills that promise, nearly thirty years later. Minus Zero features a scene in which Godzilla arrives in New York City, bringing havoc and chaos with him.
Godzilla Minus Zero's New York Destruction Scene Explained
When footage of Godzilla marching through New York City, with skyscrapers all around him, emerged, the natural assumption from fans was that the story of the new film would take the iconic monster and place him right in a landmark of the United States. That, however, proved not to be the case.
Instead, Godzilla’s New York City destruction scene in Minus Zero comes in a vision that Professor Kanji Murakami has. It’s revealed that Murakami, who was believed to be a protagonist up until this point, actually has much grander visions for Godzilla’s future. He doesn’t just want to use Godzilla to defeat King Ghidorah, but instead envisions a future in which he can bring the monster to New York City as revenge for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. This then plays into Godzilla Minus Zero's ending with the main heroes of the film.
Once that becomes clear, Godzilla’s entrance into New York City is shown. It’s a scene that plays just like an atomic bomb one would. New Yorkers are seen walking on the crowded streets of the city before a flash of light comes from above. The citizens look up and see Godzilla, and the humans’ faces begin to disintegrate (just as Professor Murakami saw with his own eyes in Japan in 1945).
Why It's Better Than Anything In Hollywood's 1998 Godzilla Movie
Unfortunately, Godzilla (1998) doesn’t have any scene, or even a single moment, that comes anywhere close to this sequence from Godzilla Minus Zero. A big reason for this is the mere concept of this iteration of Godzilla; for example, the creature is instead just known as “Zilla,” and unlike the traditional Godzilla, this version is just a marine animal that happened to build its nest in New York City.
Many fans, especially those in Japan, saw this as an insult to the character, in large part because Godzilla was created as a metaphor for the atomic bomb. All nuclear similarities were abandoned in the story of Godzilla (1998), however, which makes the film lose sight of the character in the first place.
Godzilla Minus Zero’s New York City sequence is redemption for the failed American reboot. The scene may only be brief, but it captures the character of Godzilla to his core, with the atomic bomb metaphor right at the heart of it.
Godzilla Minus Zero is in theaters now.
English (US) ·