TV & Movies

Godzilla Minus One budget is so small fans can’t believe it

Leon Miller
The poster for Godzilla Minus OneToho

Godzilla Minus One is set to be an Oscars contender for its visual effects – and its budget is a fraction of what Hollywood movies cost.

The film – the 33rd entry in Toho Studios’ Godzilla canon – premiered in Japan in November. Its international rollout started this week in several regions, including the US and Canada.

And though it’s early days, word of mouth around Godzilla Minus One is already overwhelmingly positive. Many fans and critics have even proclaimed the kaiju epic one of the greatest Godzilla movies ever.

Several commentators have also compared Toho’s latest Godzilla outing favorably to Hollywood’s recent output – especially given its tiny budget compared to its predecessors.

How much is Godzilla Minus One’s budget?

Godzilla Minus One’s reported budget is just $15 million.

That’s a notably small figure compared to Hollywood’s MonsterVerse. 2014’s Godzilla reportedly cost $160 million, Kong: Skull Island came in at around $185 million, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters set the studio back an estimated $170 million (although some reports say its budget was as high as $200 million).

Godzilla Minus One’s budget is so small fans can’t believe it

Godzilla Minus One’s relatively low price tag was a major talking point on X recently. A recurring theme of the discussion was the creature feature’s level of polish versus that of $200 million+ efforts like The Marvels.

“Godzilla Minus One cost around 1/15th the production budget of The Marvels and is one of the best-looking disaster movies I’ve ever seen,” proclaimed one X user. “We are absolutely rinsed when it comes to making these kinds of movies.”

“Moving forward, Godzilla Minus One needs to be mentioned in the same breath as Ambulance and The Good The Bad & The Weird as the modern pantheon of films punching lightyears above their budget compared to competition with multi-hundred million budgets,” opined another.

“It’s amazing what they did with that budget,” added a third. “Don’t know if it’s production efficiency or no actor needing to be paid 25% of the entire movie’s budget, or both.”

“It’s time to start questioning Hollywood production budgets,” a fourth chipped in. “Incredible what actual planning and not redoing sequences 1,000 times does for artistic quality and budget,” wrote a fifth.

Critics praise Godzilla Minus One

The buzz around Godzilla Minus One’s budget comes as glowing reviews for the monster movie continue to flood in. The film holds a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising its balance of human drama and spectacle.

That said, a few dissenters have dragged down Godzilla Minus One’s Rotten Tomatoes rating with their negative reviews. This includes YouTuber Adam Olinger, whose scathing assessment of the movie recently earned him the ire of the Godzilla fanbase.

Godzilla Minus One is in cinemas now. You can check out our other coverage below:

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