LAS VEGAS — Japan's most famous monster thundered into CinemaCon as theater-owners got their first look at "Godzilla Minus Zero," which sees the creature rampage through New York.
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the offering from Japan's Toho studio is a sequel to 2023's "Godzilla Minus One", which became an international sensation with a box office haul of $116 million as it bagged an Oscar for visual effects.
Yamazaki told cinema-owners that "the immense scale and terror of Godzilla, as well as the human struggle to survive... (is) going to push your screens and your audiences to their limits."
The film — which hits US theaters on November 6 and stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe — is set in 1949, two years after the events of "Minus One," picking up the story of the Shikishima family as they face an even tougher challenge.
Yamazaki, who also wrote the screenplay, offered a behind-the-scenes look at the production, along with clips featuring scenes of destruction and the arrival of the imposing monster in New York.
On Tuesday, attendees at the annual get-together also got their first look at the slate of upcoming releases from indie distributor Neon.
The company — which handled the Oscar-winning films "Parasite" and "Anora" — announced it would release "Hope" this year, a South Korean sci-fi thriller starring Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.
It also has "I Love Boosters" in the pipeline — a film by Boots Riley about a gang of clothing thieves that promises to become a fashionista event in theaters — as well as the thriller "A Place in Hell," which features Michelle Williams and Daisy Edgar-Jones as rivals at a law firm.