In the pantheon of movie monsters, Godzilla stands tall — and scaly and radioactive. The legendary kaiju first broke onto the scene in his eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. Godzilla remains “king of the monsters,” with dozens of movies, novels, comics, and video games based on him. Director Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One (2023), the 37th film starring the irradiated monstrosity, became the first non-English language film to win Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards. Soon it’s getting a sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero, which is set to premiere in late 2026. A first look at the film was released at CinemaCon, featuring Godzilla towering over the Statue of Liberty.
Godzilla has come to life many times over the past seven decades — in the early days, via practical effects (a man in a rubber suit) and, in recent iterations, via CGI (complete with atomic blue breath). As a walking symbol for nuclear armament and humanity’s war on the environment, the monster remains a complex metaphor. If you’re craving more Godzilla, you can find the creature in these films and TV series on Netflix.
When kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) abandons his mission near the end of World War II and lands on an island base, he encounters the massive reptilian monster Godzilla. He miraculously survives Godzilla’s assault and returns to Tokyo, where he learns his family was killed. Shikishima soon rebuilds his life with two fellow orphans, Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) and Akiko (Sae Nagatani), but Godzilla still lurks nearby, ready to steal the little peace Shikishima and his new family have built.
Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color is just that: the black-and-white version of Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One. It follows three people orphaned by the horrors of World War II who find each other and attempt to outlive another threat: the mighty Godzilla.
This anime series directed by Atsushi Takahashi and written by Toh EnJoe takes place in a near-future Japan and follows engineer Yun Arikawa (Shōya Ishige) and graduate student Mei Kamino (Yume Miyamoto) as they unknowingly investigate the same mysterious song from separate locations. They’re soon brought together to fight against an unparalleled threat to their universe.
Planet of the Monsters is the 30th Godzilla film produced by Toho. It follows a group of refugees who return to Earth 20,000 years after Godzilla claimed the planet. They hope to recolonize, but one of them, Captain Haruo Sakaki (Mamoru Miyano), has an ulterior motive: revenge against the monster that killed his parents.
Enter Mechagodzilla. Captain Sakaki (Miyano) and his companions make contact with the Indigenous Houtua tribe, descendants of humans who survived on Earth under Godzilla’s rule. To defeat the monstrous king, they turn to an ancient weapon.
The third and final movie in director Kōbun Shizuno’s animated trilogy, The Planet Eater sees humanity and its extraterrestrial allies work with Godzilla to fight the ultimate planet destroyer, King Ghidorah.
