Godzilla Minus One wins Oscar for Best Visual Effects at 96th Academy Awards

Godzilla Minus One won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Oscars, held in Los Angeles on 10 March 2024. It was the first Godzilla film to win an Oscar and the first Japanese production to take the category.

The film was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who also supervised its effects. Set in post-war Japan, it follows a former kamikaze pilot confronting the monster. Toho, the Japanese studio behind the franchise since 1954, produced it. Yamazaki's in-house team at the company Shirogumi worked on the visuals. The award went to Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima.

The win mattered because the film was made on a far smaller budget than its Hollywood rivals in the category, which included films from major franchises. It was widely noted as a victory for lean, craft-driven effects work and helped lift the film's international profile after a strong North American release in late 2023. That success paved the way for a follow-up and renewed interest in Japanese-language blockbusters abroad.