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Toho Announces New Godzilla Work with Director Takashi Yamazaki

TOHO announced on Thursday that it is producing a new work in the Godzilla franchise, with Takashi Yamazaki as the director and writer, and also credited for visual effects. The new work will debut on November 3, 2023 ("Godzilla Day"). The announcement did not specify the format of the new work, but Yamazaki has primarily directed live-action films, including the Always: Sunset on Third Street, Returner, and Parasyte films, but has also directed CG films such as Stand By Me Doraemon.

TOHO also made the announcement on ths year's "Godzilla Day," the anniversary day of the original Godzilla film's November 3, 1954 Japanese nationwide release.

TOHO's latest Japanese live-action installment in its iconic and long-running franchise is Hideaki Anno's Shin Godzilla, which opened in 2016 and earned 8.2 billion yen (US$75.6 million) at the box office in Japan after opening in Japan in July 2016. The movie was the latest in TOHO's film series after a 12-year absence since 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars. Funimation screened the film in theaters in North America in October 2016.

The Godzilla Singular Point anime series debuted in Japan in March 2021. Every episode premiered on Netflix in Japan first before its television broadcast. Netflix debuted the anime outside of Japan in June 2021. Netflix previously debuted a Godzilla anime film trilogy between November 2017 and November 2018.

Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment's Godzilla vs. Kong film opened in the United States in March 2021, and in Japan in July 2021. Legendary Entertainment' is planning a new series for the franchise for the Apple TV+ streaming service.

Sources: Godzilla official Japanese Twitter account, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web