Godzilla Minus One 4K UHD (2023)

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Modren

If they didn't think it was worth translating the bonus features, why did they include the disc at all?

I'll bet a fair number of US Godzilla fans speak Japanese. I have a cousin who loves the movies and speaks Japanese. I suspect they included the bonus disc for them, since it didn't cost Toho any extra to include an existing disc master.

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'll bet a fair number of US Godzilla fans speak Japanese. I have a cousin who loves the movies and speaks Japanese. I suspect they included the bonus disc for them, since it didn't cost Toho any extra to include an existing disc master.

That is an optimistic way to look at it.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

That is an optimistic way to look at it.

Their only other option was not to include it at all, and deign new packaging for the US. They were clearly never gonna pay a fortune to translate and subtitle all those extras for such a limited boutique home video release.

[milo bloom]

I've no doubt they'll do cheaper releases for North America down the road, I may even consider buying one used if there's a significant addition of material but I'm not going to hold my breath. I got both codes and placed my order.


Now I'm wondering about some poor soul who has that other phone number who keeps getting texts that just say "GODZILLA".


Say, there's an interesting idea for a movie - the ghost of Godzilla trying to communicate with people via their phones...

[JudgeJuryExecutioner]

Originally Posted by milo bloom

I've no doubt they'll do cheaper releases for North America down the road, I may even consider buying one used if there's a significant addition of material but I'm not going to hold my breath. I got both codes and placed my order.

Agreed. Heck, people outside of Japan are still waiting for a Shin Godzilla 4K release from Toho. It’s been well over 7 years and counting now since the Japanese release.

[Mking78]

Anybody know how many copies in this “limited” release? I normally wait for cheaper options….this time I immediately purchased. Just a gut feeling. I really want to view this non streaming (but it did present well on Netflix)

[themp3000]

Originally Posted by JudgeJuryExecutioner

Agreed. Heck, people outside of Japan are still waiting for a Shin Godzilla 4K release from Toho. It’s been well over 7 years and counting now since the Japanese release.

I’ve got the now sold out Spectrum (French since I have some very light/basic knowledge of the language) 4K LE and would definitely double dip for an English friendly 4K edition.

[emailking]

Originally Posted by emailking

Streamed it on Netflix on Saturday with pizza. I liked it a lot and some of the action scenes, like the heat ray stuff, make me want to have a permanent version. So I might get this at some point but I'll wait for a version somewhere other than Japan, they just charge too much for movies for some reason. Also, if you didn't know, you can also rent/purchase this on sties like Amazon, Itunes, FAH, etc. and they also have the black and white version separately. I think only the color version is on Netflix.

Originally Posted by emailking

I'll wait a little while longer to see if we get a true English friendly version. If not I'll get this one with the English subs on the feature.

.

[shredking9000]

Debated this for about 2 minutes before putting my order in. Would have preferred a barebones 4k since they're not subtitling the extras, but I don't to risk getting locked out of the format in the event that the standard release is blu-only. Was able to get it down to $55.25 with the coupon codes.

[buckeye1]

Originally Posted by shredking9000

Debated this for about 2 minutes before putting my order in. Would have preferred a barebones 4k since they're not subtitling the extras, but I don't to risk getting locked out of the format in the event that the standard release is blu-only. Was able to get it down to $55.25 with the coupon codes.

Mine was too before all the stupid local and state taxes which brought it up to $59.54.

[Modren]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'll bet a fair number of US Godzilla fans speak Japanese. I have a cousin who loves the movies and speaks Japanese. I suspect they included the bonus disc for them, since it didn't cost Toho any extra to include an existing disc master.

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Their only other option was not to include it at all, and deign new packaging for the US. They were clearly never gonna pay a fortune to translate and subtitle all those extras for such a limited boutique home video release.

There is a three-disc Blu-ray set that they could reuse the packaging for. I'd also argue that, if you're fluent enough in Japanese to be able to follow along with the special features without subtitles, you're also fluent enough to follow the movie and have probably imported the Japanese set already. I also question the idea that it would cost a "fortune" to translate a few hours of bonus features. There are plenty of anime companies that translate 50+ episodes for Blu-ray sets that cost less than this does.

There's also the question of whether a bunch of raw footage of various premieres (which appears to take up the bulk of the extras) is even relevant to a Western audience. If Toho cut those out (maybe including the North American premiere footage) and translated just the trailers and making-of videos, most fans would probably be perfectly happy with that.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Modren

There is a three-disc Blu-ray set that they could reuse the packaging for. I'd also argue that, if you're fluent enough in Japanese to be able to follow along with the special features without subtitles, you're also fluent enough to follow the movie and have probably imported the Japanese set already. I also question the idea that it would cost a "fortune" to translate a few hours of bonus features. There are plenty of anime companies that translate 50+ episodes for Blu-ray sets that cost less than this does.

There's also the question of whether a bunch of raw footage of various premieres (which appears to take up the bulk of the extras) is even relevant to a Western audience. If Toho cut those out (maybe including the North American premiere footage) and translated just the trailers and making-of videos, most fans would probably be perfectly happy with that.

All reasonable statements, I'm just saying, Toho clearly didn't feel that way. They felt it wasn't worth the money to translate the extras, and decided to re-use the Japanese format.

Is it ideal? Nope. Am I happy to get one of the best action films of the last decade on UHD with English subtitles, in any form? Yep.

[thethingwithnoname]

I'd have gone for this set with minimal hesitation if the B&W version was also on UHD, but as its on Blu only its just pushed it into a 'wait and see' for me

[Tuc0]

So where to get this if not a USA citizen? Diabolik or anything going to carry it do you think?

[JustusJonas]

I really hope so, i was so bummed when i saw that Godzilla.com ships in the US only :-(
I even looked at Reship.com, but those shipping costs seem pretty pricey.
can someone share some info how much that could be, and which one of these is the best ? I am from germany.

Iam guessing that we eventually get a Set in the EU but i kinda doubt it will be the same.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by thethingwithnoname

I'd have gone for this set with minimal hesitation if the B&W version was also on UHD, but as its on Blu only its just pushed it into a 'wait and see' for me

I don't think the B&W version has been released anywhere in 4K, it's only on BD in Japan too. Might not be wise to wait. Just saying.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by JustusJonas

I really hope so, i was so bummed when i saw that Godzilla.com ships in the US only :-(
I even looked at Reship.com, but those shipping costs seem pretty pricey.
can someone share some info how much that could be, and which one of these is the best ? I am from germany.

Iam guessing that we eventually get a Set in the EU but i kinda doubt it will be the same.

I hate to say this, but I wouldn't be certain of that.

Toho has a corporate presence in the US. They have US offices and they released the film directly into theaters here. They're using that US presence to release this US physical media set.

As far as I know, they don't have a similar presence in Europe. They licensed the film to local distributors there.

They may license the film for physical media in Europe too, it's always possible.

That said, I don't think they have the corporate presence in Europe to release a set like this directly there.

There's a plausible chance they only release this in the US and Japan in the near future, those are the two markets they control completely.

[Modren]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Is it ideal? Nope. Am I happy to get one of the best action films of the last decade on UHD with English subtitles, in any form? Yep.

That's the issue, I think. Toho knows there's demand for this movie, and there has been ever since it released. And it's grown to the point where they believe they can get away with overcharging for a product that, ultimately, did not take them much effort, and people are hungry enough that they'll pay for it. It's exploitive and, frankly, I find it insulting. If you think it's worth your money, more power to you, but it's not worth mine.

[milo bloom]

This is pure speculation on my part, but for all the folks mad about Minus Color only being 2K, it's very likely that they only did it that way because they might have felt it would only have limited appeal so they only did the color regrading at 2K to save money. A 4k version at this point would mean either going back and totally redoing it at 4K resolution (much higher rendering and processing cost/time) or an upscale of the 2K version (which may or may not actually improve the detail enough to notice).

I'm fine with it being Blu only, the original version is at 4K and that's good enough for me.

[gigan72]

Everyone can wait, but bear in mind Toho has only released the 4K version in the 4-disc sets and hasn't released a standard 4K version at all. I wouldn't be super shocked if this is the only chance at a 4K in the US (note that Shin Godzilla's 4K release, which came out years ago, was also ONLY available in a larger 4 disc set too - and still is). I highly doubt any other release will include the B&W version with the color one anyways, and anyone waiting for a 4K of the B&W version is waiting for something that'll never come.