SHIN GODZILLA Interview with Shinji Higuchi, Discussing THE RETURN OF GODZILLA and SHIN GODZILLA’s Shocking Finale

Like many of you, I loved Godzilla Minus One, but I equally love Shin Godzilla. Its weird, body horror-y take on the King of the Monsters makes it different from any installment that preceded it, and Godzilla's decimation of Tokyo in this film is among the series' most terrifying moments. This film was also the first Godzilla movie that I had the privilege of seeing in Japan, giving it an extra special place in my monster kid heart. So, I'm very excited that we're getting a 4K release of the film, which is hitting theaters on August 14th (with a home media release to follow).

I also had a chance to briefly catch up with Shinji Higuchi to discuss the film during a Comic-Con junket, learning about the parallels between Shin Godzilla and The Return of Godzilla, and he briefly discusses that end scene that keeps everyone guessing (spoiler warning).

Shinji Higuchi did some of his first work (uncredited) on The Return of Godzilla, so I asked about how that experience informed the approach he and Hideaki Anno took on Shin Godzilla:

So there are actually quite a few parallels between 1984 Godzilla and Shin Godzilla. First of all, the only Kaiju that appears in both is Godzilla, and then a lot of the drama comes from the government and the prime minister's reaction to what Godzilla is doing. So there are a lot of scenes in boardrooms or tactical rooms (in both). That's why I wanted to have elements of differentiation. One of them is in 1984, the Shinkansen (bullet train) loses to Godzilla, whereas in Shin Godzilla, the train survives [laughs].

[Spoiler Warning] And, of course, the question came up about the creatures on Godzilla's tail at the end of the film, and here was his response:

The fact that you're asking the question means the fans are thinking exactly what we want them to think, so I'll leave it as that. But that scene was not actually in the screenplay. We proposed it in the plot, but Toho said, "No." Then we had filmed the entire movie and at the end we're like, "You know what? Let's just shoot it because we can." It's one of the only shots that was done [practically], so we actually shot a model there. I want to say the release date for Shin Godzilla was originally toward the end of July and we filmed [that scene] at the end of June to make it for the deadline.

Official details on the upcoming Shin Godzilla 4K release are below, and I'm excited for people to see it on the big screen this week. To find tickets in your area, visit: https://gkids.com/films/shin-godzilla

"Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s iconic take on the King of the Monsters is poised to evolve into yet another filmic form: 4K. On August 14 GKIDS will release Shin Godzilla in North American cinemas, with a home entertainment release to follow.

Shin Godzilla will be released in its original Japanese language with English subtitles, including restored text cards. This is the first time the Shin Godzilla 4K remaster has been released in North America, and the first time GKIDS has released a Godzilla film since it was acquired by Toho in 2024.

Originally opening in Japan in 2016, Shin Godzilla is directed by Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Higuchi (Shin Ultraman) with screenplay by Anno and visual effects by Higuchi.

Shin Godzilla won seven Japan Academy Prize awards and was the highest-grossing Japanese-produced Godzilla film prior to 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, grossing $79 million worldwide."