Godzilla Minus One Subtracts Key Visual Element for Rerelease

Pop quiz, hot shot: What do The Mist, Logan, and Mad Max: Fury Road have in common? They’ve all received black and white editions after originally being released in color. But move over, Imperator Furiosa, a new beast is about to join the monochromatic club.

After earning more than $50 million at the U.S. box office (making it the fifth highest grossing non-English-language film in North American box office history), Godzilla Minus One will return to silver screens for a limited engagement from January 26 to February 1 as Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color. As the title indicates, this time the movie will be in black and white.

In a Godzilla.com post, Takahashi Yamazaki, the director, screenwriter, and visual effects supervisor of Godzilla Minus One, says the colorless version of the film “will bring a new and visceral experience to audiences and I hope they will tremble with a new kind of terror.” Yamazaki further explains: “The black-and-white images make Godzilla look very realistic and documentary-like, which leads to even more fear.”

So what’s behind the recent trend of black-and-white film reissues? Along with being a sneaky way to reignite fan interest and grab more cash, many directors like the visual aspects black and white brings to a movie. With reissues, viewers get the chance to contrast the two versions of the film and think about how color (or lack thereof) changes the experience. In the case of Godzilla Minus One, subtracting color could actually be a plus—harkening back to the original Godzilla, released in breathtaking black and white 70 years ago.