If you asked a group of movie lovers to list off some of the best sequels of all time, many of them would likely name Aliens and Terminator 2, both of which were of course directed by James Cameron. One could say that Cameron has mastered the art of the movie sequel, so it’s no surprise that anyone making a franchise sequel looks to Cameron for advice and inspiration.
On that note, Takashi Yamazaki is back in the director’s chair for this year’s Godzilla Minus Zero, a sequel to his own hit movie Godzilla Minus One. And in a new interview with Empire Online, Yamazaki reveals that he was indeed inspired by James Cameron’s mastery of the movie sequel.
“I’m going to have to give credit to James Cameron,” Yamazaki tells Empire. “He looks at the original and finds another interesting hook point and digs much deeper. Oftentimes his sequels will take a slightly different angle, but still rooted in a lot of what was built in the first film. I was curious how his second films are outperforming the originals in a lot of ways.”
Of course, you can’t have a James Cameron-style sequel without the return of original characters…
Godzilla Minus One stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will both be reprising their roles in Godzilla Minus Zero, and Yamazaki notes in his chat with Empire that the familial focus of the upcoming follow-up sequel story will bring Minus Zero into a “different vector.”
Empire previews, “Bigger, beefier – and with higher stakes. That’s the James Cameron way.”
The first Japanese production filmed for IMAX, Toho’s Godzilla Minus Zero stomps into theaters November 6 with an Early Access event bringing the film to IMAX theaters on November 3.
Takashi Yamazaki also wrote the film and did the epic VFX work.
The film is set in 1949 — two years after the events of its predecessor.
“War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus. Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim its daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here.”
