Shin Godzilla, released in the US as Godzila Resurgence, was the monster winner at the 40th Japan Academy Prize awards last evening. The reboot of the venerable kaiju franchise won seven awards out of the eleven it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director for the team of Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi. The film, which was the biggest box-office hit of the year in Japan, also took home awards for Best Editing, Cinematography, Art Direction, Lighting, and Sound Recording.
It is interesting to see that the Japanese equivalent to the Academy Awards is far more inclusive of genre material than their American counterpart. Two comedies – What A Wonderful Family! and Her Love Boils Bathwater – were also nominated for the top prize,
Clint Eastwood’s Sully, released locally as Hudson-gawa no Kiseki or The Miracle of Hudson River, won Best Foreign Film over The Martian, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Zootopia.
Shin Godzilla had a moderate release in the US last fall, earning almost $2 million dollars.
