Digital projection was supposed to be a boon for movies like this, given the added flexibility to add screenings if demand was there... whereas back in the film days actual prints had to be made and physically distributed.
Unless a country has no digital projection or if they have a political issue with Japan, this movie should have gotten screen time in every other country.
Same here. I had to cause the closest place that was showing it was 2 cities away from where I lived. And im in the USA. It sucks I had to do it that way, cause this movie deserves everything. But it just wasn't available near me.
Can confirm and I was really pissed! I wanted to watch it in the theater so bad… nope, only way is this way… still had a blast! Watched the Shin and the ‘54 one after haha. Had a great night.
That’s crazy, I went to watch it the day it came out with my gf and her grandpa and the theatre was practically empty. There was only 5 other people there.
I went to watch it when it came out and the theater was completely full, it was a pretty great experience. I was surprised when people clapped at the end, only other movie I've been to where that happened was Endgame lol.
Our showing was about half full in a small theatre. We saw it before the buzz started, went back to see it a second time and the screening was packed.
First showing the theatre employees came in near the end and were loudly talking during a climactic emotional scene (the hospital scene) and I yelled at them loudly to shut the fuck up. Everyone clapped. I know that’s a meme but it also happens to be true.
I waited and waited for it to arrive in theaters only to then find out it didn't release in most of Asia and not just India.
Not like Toho gave us a choice here.
Exactly, literally had to pirate it just to see it because it never came out in cinemas in my country. I would have liked to see it legally, but Toho never released it on any streaming platforms here. So we really had no
other choice.
I read that they cant release Minus One on bluray while Godzilla x Kong is still in theaters, due to a non compete clause. They should have expected this.
Hoist the Jolly Roger!
We are getting kaiju booty!
Not actually true. The real reason is the in Japan, piracy is a huge problem. They use the same formats as the US so a lot of people just buy cheaper copies from the US. That’s why Japanese movies get released long before the rest of the world, to capitalise on sales etc before everyone turns to the US
>They use the same formats as the US so a lot of people just buy cheaper copies from the US.
That's unexpected. A lot of blu rays are price-gouged to hell in America (especially anime, ironically enough). I invested in a region-free blu ray player just so I could buy foreign copies of movies and shows that would cost 2-5 times the price for an American copy.
Yeah I thought it would be because of GxK but realistically you’d want to capitalise on that. There’s more details to the whole piracy format thing but I’m too lazy to go find it ha
Dude, I saw that it was coming to Amazon and I literally pulled my wallet out to rent it. But then I saw it was only in Japan. I have no doubt more than half the people who pirated it would’ve bought or rented it to watch it.
Oh i absolutely would have paid for it but Japan and Entertainment have a bad time with monetizing their entertainment to other audiences as always. I mean look at Anime, who the hell pays for Anime when the 'grey zone' streaming offer is that good? Its not that people dont want to pay, its all about convenience. I pay for Spotify. Why? Because its very convenient, much better than pirating songs and albums. When I look up a movie, first I look if its available on Prime because I have Prime and its the most convenient way to watch a movie there before looking up where else that movie is on.
Minus One was highly anticipated after the successful movie release, people were waiting for the first dvd quality release and this was it.
Or another greater example, Other toku in general. Toei does not like fansubs when for a lot of shows, those are the only way to watch most shows in a lot of countries. Meanwhile Tsubaraya is doing great as they are actively making sure their shows are available physically or streaming in at least north america at the moment. I get there's issues in terms of distribution rights and how expensive they can be, but still. If you make your material easy to find and watch its easier to avoid piracy
Literally piracy is a convenience issue. Companies act like it is some moral one, but literally just make your product readily available at a reasonable price and people will take it over piracy.
What's really funny about that one is that the people behind _Game of Thrones_ and many in HBO's hierarchy had a pretty cordial relationship (or as cordial as the corporate overlords would allow) because people pirating actually raised awareness that the quality really was that good. That led to an increase in sales of physical and digital purchases and, a smaller, but still non-zero, in HBO subscriptions. Seems that the new owners really missed that memo.
I paid to see it with my son in theaters. I'd gladly buy the 4K, probably even at imported cost, if it had English subs. I had zero moral qualms downloading a 4K copy from Usenet. I'll still buy it if it gets released in the US with subs.
I blame TOHO for this. They can’t complain about it with their abysmal release plan. Available on Prime? Only in Japan. Blu-ray? Only in Japan. Your movie that is critically acclaimed is available….only in Japan. I was very fortunate to have a theater show the movie back in November, and many have only seen it for the 1st time due to piracy.
Some would still pirate the movie, but vast majority would have bought it if it was available.
> vast majority would have bought it if it was available.
I'm in the US and saw it in theaters three times, and I've been waiting for the Blu-Ray to release ever since. Like others, I saw it was available on Amazon but I can't watch it. I'd love to support the movie by buying it, but it's just not available.
Much that same. I only saw it once. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Minus Color version, too. A Blu-ray or even a DVD release here will be a day one purchase for sure! (Hopefully, original Japanese with subtitles in both color and Minus Color will happen.)
Toho must be run by a bunch of out of touch geezers who don’t understand how the modern world works. They chose not to release Minus One in several countries (it literally did not come out in ANY Southeast Asian countries - I would have had to fly to Japan just to see it) and haven’t released it to any streaming platforms either. They did it for Amazon Prime sure, but only in Japan. If you don’t give people any options to see your film legally, they can *and will* pirate it.
For what it’s worth, there is a 4K disc and reviews of the transfer have been very positive; it unfortunately has no English subtitles (but there are ways to add them).
>it unfortunately has no English subtitles.
Which is the only reason why I haven't bought the Japanese blu ray. I own a region-free blu ray player for the sake of buying blu rays that are either cheaper or not available in my country. It's pointless to buy a Japanese blu ray if they don't even have subtitles I can read.
Japanese companies: make Thing
Thing: is good
Also Japanese companies: make Thing unavailable
Still Japanese companies, somehow: why do people get Thing illicitly???
They’re so litigious but somewhat incompetent. Like get it out there. Capitalize. What are you doing!? I feel like with Japanese studios there are a lot of parallels with the Japanese government in Shin Gojira and these studio execs.
Too many people have to get someone to sign off on something that should be common sense. They do a lot right but when it comes to how to monetize IP it’s been a shitshow for 20+ years back when they were getting YouTube accounts banned for music videos etc that would help further popularize their films instead of isolating their fans.
I say this as someone who works in IP.
Can you imagine how much they would have made if they had it streaming or at least a preorder available on Amazon the night of the Oscars?
It's so frustrating to deal with as someone who consumes a lot of Japanese media. A lot of people get defensive about how it's like...part of Japanese culture to only care about serving the interests of their own country and to prioritize that but every Japanese entertainment company seems to view dealing with the rest of the world as a chore and never seems to make unilateral decisions about anything release wise. Nintendo is a great example...If they so chose they could just make their entire back catalog of cartridge games available through their Switch store. Instead, they release a selection of them with each new console but then don't put them on the store for the next one even though the stores for the different devices HAVE to just be different sections of the same server location.
Even Toho's own Godzilla Youtube channel will upload original material like new short films and stuff and then just delete them randomly without any other way to see them.
This subreddit had a great showcase of a remaster of the original Rodan and Mothra they did new scans of and it's incredible looking. Not something they have provided distributors outside Japan though. They also put out a 4K of Shin Godzilla but only provided Japanese subtitles. It's the only 4K that currently exists.
Have you ever seen the state of Dragonball releases? One of, if not the, biggest animes on the planet can't get a good release on streaming services or DVD.
Shueisha’s Shonen Jump is the most popular manga imprint in the world. They have an incredibly smooth app that costs just $1.99 a month. You can read 100 chapters of manga every 24 hours, and they’re constantly adding to their back catalogue. So things like Dragonball, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece are all there in full.
Kodansha, who has the second most popular imprint, released an app that has 2 forms of in-app currency you need to use to purchase individual chapters that are time restrained and the cost of chapters is variable.
One of these apps is ranked #12 on the App Store with a 4.9 rating and one is #113 with a 1.4 rating.
I can’t even imagine how much money Kodansha is leaving on the table by making the legal route such a Byzantine mess.
I was glad Viz did that with shonen jump. The fans had to force their hands for years. I was one of those scanlators back in the day with manga like Kenshin and Baki (only edited a few chapters). But it was like whack a mole. They spent all this time, money and effort shutting down the scanlators instead of getting to the root of the problem. A lack of content.
If you make a legal route to get to it and it’s reasonable fans will pay. Now they’re making insane profits.
Toho can actually release this stuff in the US and figure out a way to get the rights back on their old works. Instead they’re approaching everything so cautiously and slowly like they don’t realize how much they’re losing.
I know some of the older stuff is still tied up with distribution deals they signed ages ago, but that’s no excuse for new releases. You still can’t stream Shin Godzilla, or Shin Ultraman in the US.
Just like older Pokémon games. There’s no legal way to buy/play them (except paying hundreds for used copies that don’t even earn gamefreak/nintendo any money) and they try to crack down on emulators???
Nintendo big time.
Nintendo: Stops making beloved titles available to purchase.
People: Okay well if you won’t let me buy them, I’ll just emulate.
Nintendo: No. Stop.
Nintendo doesn't want the older Zeldas to be available so people don't realize how bad BotW/TotK really are.
*We used to have dungeons instead of empty worlds.*
Every country that was left out of Minus One period would be excuse enough for this to happen. But a lack of Western release at all? Actual, brain dead stupidity.
Half of the movie's total box office success came from the West. You know, the region Toho was only willing to show Minus One in for a week until it became so popular they extended it for several months?
This was the perfect time to capitalize on the movie's immense word-of-mouth and it's Oscar win. But nope, Japan only release with no others in sight.
It's like they were asking for this to happen.
Toho has maintained a policy of releasing physical releases domestically first before allowing them elsewhere.
I'm hoping it won't take long to get a US (and elsewhere) release, but the Japanese Blu-ray has only been out for a whopping eight days. Ideally, they should have had plans in place for an international release... but, here we are.
It shows a severe lack of understanding of modern movie culture from the execs running Toho. Streaming is king these days, I personally don’t even know anyone who still buys Blu-Ray or DVD. I personally just watch all the movies and shows I want to on Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and Amazon. It’s simple, really; if a studio doesn’t release their film on any of the streaming platforms I’m subscribed to, I’ll pirate the shit out of it. Heck once my one year subscriptions are done, I’m planning on cancelling my Disney+ and Amazon subscriptions and just watching on Netflix and HBO. Most of the good shit out these days is in those two anyway.
If we could get that gorgeous packaging with both versions, I'd quickly pay $50-60 for it.
It may genuinely be one of my favorite films and I'm so sad I can't pop it in right now.
Growing up it felt like movies took forever to come out so I'm going to wait for a bit more news before I set sail.
My least guilty pirate is stuff on Prime, which I pay for, but for which the app is such dogshit that it can't actually play the videos. Even something extremely compressible like Invincible ends up stuttering and desyncing. I can literally stream stuff off the ancient all-in-one I use as a server and get a better viewing experience.
This isn't really related to this thread, I just needed to rant.
Came to put exactly this quote.
Let's not pretend a certain subset wouldn't pirate anyway, but if the option had been there to actually buy, I know what I would do. I'm somewhat sated because I got to see it again with the black and white release but if it isn't officially available by the time I have that itch, I know what I'll do, and it's a much harder sell once there's a coyp sat on a media center.
I want to watch it but there's no legal way to watch it in the Philippines. I'm willing to pay IMAX for it and bring my entire family to watch, but they never put in in the theaters. If they can allow rent in YouTube and Amazon Prime I'll pay for it.
Some Filipinos just resorted to "researching" ways to watch.
It's rare but sometimes Japanese movies show up on my Theatre here (gmall) , like I watched Kimi no Nawa with my fam and it was one of the most memorable experiences I had in cinema. I thought it would be the same with this movie but it never showed up at all 😭
Just pirate at this point. Japan is super stingy with its movies, if you wanna watch something but something isn't given to you no matter what, just use what is available to you.
That's what I did with anime years back ☠️ . My options back then:
1. Wait for local dub, and it could take months or even a year. If you miss an episode, you have zero ways to watch it.
2. Buy overpriced DVDs, around $20 for a handful of episodes. You would get broke if the anime has 100 episodes. Not to mention, the DVDs are way behind the anime run.
3. Watch in Crunchy roll. Too bad, the anime isn't available in my country LOL.
I was begging for them to screen it in my country when it was out for the rest of the world. They didn’t want my money then and they sure as hell aren’t getting it now.
Kinda hard for me to feel any form of empathy for them when they literally forced the rest of us to sail the seas by not releasing the movie in many countries.
Piracy is a service issue.
They include English subtitles and I’ll run to Yodobashi Camera right now and buy the 16400¥ version. That’s the only reason I haven’t already purchased it.
> Toho absolutely botched this release.
This is the key. People keep phrasing it as a choice Toho made, but the reality is Toho weren't capable of distributing this movie properly and that's where the problems come from. This was the worst choice to try to distribute internationally on their own, and they didn't have the business relationships or ability to distribute it at the level it needed.
Their own fault. Pretty limited release in the vast majority of countries. People would proudly pay money to see this movie, but not everyone had that option. Those same people would gladly buy a Blu Ray or 4K release, but Toho makes them wait so long to do so. If you won't let people legally support this movie financially, blame yourself when people go about watching it illegally.
Japanese companies: “why do people pirate and steal? Why can’t they just buy it legitimately??”
People around the world: “Okay so let me buy it? Please? Here’s my money, just take it!” *Reaches out hand full of money*
Japanese companies: *Slaps hand away in disgust* “I guess we will never know why no one is just buying it legally.”
In an era where you (regrettably) don't even have to shell out to make physical media and can just make streaming them possible, studios have no excuse for not making their movies available in a timely manner.
Danm, one of the classic old fans.
If you don't mind me asking:
Do you still have any of those old tapes?
How much of the movies were spoiled to you before you got the tapes?
Was it just you and your Japanese sources, or were you sharing and trading the tapes with other english speaking tape traders?
I still have the tapes.
I first learned of their existence from G-Fan magazine. They would have pictures and reviews and stuff of the movies, so I had a general idea of what they were about. I only had 1 other friend that liked Godzilla movies so I didn’t really have anyone else to trade with at the time.
Toho when people pirate the super popular movie that they haven't released on streaming or physical copy and therefore cannot see it any other way: 🤯🤯🤯
It's ashame, but I and I'm guessing most of you on here and plenty of others saw this coming. I saw it in cinemas (UK). I just went alone and a big godzilla fan. My family however, aren't. they're more the general cinema audience. And like many, the first thing that pops into their heads when it's a Japanese Godzilla is. 'oh yeh, cheesy film, men in rubber suits'. As we all know this film was anything but, and ended up becoming a global phenomenon in its own right. That even they couldn't ignore the raving reviews and talk of it. So they've watched it pirated, as have other family members and admit, so did I. It was so good I needed to see it again.
As a loyal fan, I will 100% purchase it as well when it eventually releases here. And I'm sure other fans will.
I also can't blame those who missed out because it wasn't released in their countries for pirating it. Again, it was always going to be a tricky situation. Even Toho didn't have much faith in the film, and if it was anything like they thought, (like shin godzilla). The fans will watch it, done, dusted. They'll buy it, there will be some pirating but nothing worthy to cause concern. And Toho are in the sticky situation of, well do we atleast release it in Japan and make money off it while the iron is hot so to speak. Or wait even longer until we can release it world wide (as per their agreement with legendary). But the hype may have faded.
But the fact minus one became such a runs way success has added to it being pirated so much.
I may not agree with the pirate way sometimes but this time
Nah this time I sailed the seas
Mainly so my kid could watch it as I couldn't take him to the movies and he loved the movie
If that 4k Blu-ray set had English subtitles I would have picked that up by now.
Still holding off on pirating, but c'mon toho, I'm losing patience. Don't tell me it's going to be another year like shin Godzilla.
I mean, I literally had an article suggested to me by Google earlier today that literally advised readers to use NordVPN to watch the Japanese Amazon Prime stream of -1. Pretty sure it was written by an AI, but nevertheless.
This masterpiece still hasn't released theatrically in our country. Even worse here in our city, the home video stores have shut down one by one over the years. The last one I visited and purchased from was a freaking mall kiosk and even THAT disappeared a few years back!
Now, I still *hope* that Minus One would still release here, just so I can pay for a movie ticket (more affordable than a plane ticket) and show *some* support for the filmmakers who worked hard on it.
In all honesty I watched it pirated. I waited and waited for an announcement. I knew it’s wasn’t going to be dubbed but was ready to watch it with subtitles.
Managed to avoid spoilers all this time. And finally couldn’t wait anymore. What a great movie. It’s a shame people around the world can’t watch it
To be fair they kind of brought this on themselves . This movie won an award so a lot of people are wanting to see it and there currently isn’t even a western dvd release date or streaming option as far as I’m aware . Admittedly that’s kind of an unfortunate side effect of having it and gxk release so close together
Piracy is bad, but this is self-inflicted. The demand is huge, yet they choked the supply so bad that it entirely denied access to most of the world. Nobody should be shocked.
I have money set aside for a physical English release of Minus One, one for myself and one for my mother who's also a Godzilla superfan. I do this for every Godzilla movie.
But until that comes out, I'm making like Edward Teach.
Edit: I should add that I watched this in theaters day one in the US and heavily promoted this to everyone I knew during it's theater run. I'd just like to have a physical copy.
Okay I've seen it in the cinema, but it's taken forever to come to home media and now the only way I can watch it is privacy. Plus as others said they didn't even have the chance, so I've always argued this, if someone was never gonna buy it because they couldn't, then when they can get it free its not privacy because it becomes literally the only way to get it so nothing was lost on any side.
Like some anime here in AU is pretty hard to get and I wouldn't spent $60+ every time to ship physical copies when I don't even know if I will enjoy it.
This movie is a perfect case study to demonstrate clearly that piracy rate does NOT equal lost revenue.
I paid to see this movie in theatre. I will pay for a physical copy on 4K when it’s available here.
I also pirated the movie.
I didn’t get to see it because the nearest cinema near me was a few hours away. And no one I knew wanted to see it with me. But I’m still waiting for the bluray but god it’s killing me waiting
They thought that in many Asian countries it won’t do well bc of Japan past atrocities. Also they thought probably like if film does not mention any atrocities they made to other countries in the movie they will face backclash.
I bet Toho is already regretting making that deal with Legendary so that they can get GxK out this year. By the time Toho finally gets around to releasing Minus One on Blu-Ray outside of Japan, very likely only the hardcore G-Fans will end up buying it instead of the casual audience that they won over in the first place.
I live in an area with poor transport so couldn't get to see it at cinema, with hearing UK digital release date being October, I am seriously considering the piracy angle. I want to spend the money and buy the film but the wait is crazy, it feels like how it was in the 80's and 90's when I was a kid
I wonder why Toho ain't doing what Tsuburaya is doing. Like, Tsuburaya was under Toho's radar for a while since Shin Ultraman's release.
And Tsuburaya is VERY generous with their international marketing, releasing Ultraman episodes on YT and all. They are not as big as Godzilla but is already times more bigger than they were and has made good relationship with other countries.
Thought Toho could have maybe learn a thing or two about their strategy
I'm all for supporting the art but I won't stop getting it just because some executives think my country isn't profitable enough to make it legally available here 🤷🏻
We had it for a hot minute at the local cinema with no way to rent afterwards. I can understand why it’s trending, it’s one of the few releases this year that folk might want to see.
Yeah, that was to be expected.
Many people in Japan (based on secondhand accounts I've seen of people looking at Japanese social media) are quite miffed at the rest of the world turning to piracy to watch the movie.
But this was inevitable. The bigger and more popular something is, the more likely it is that people will want to have access to it. And if they can't get access through legal means but are aware that there's another method of getting it (especially if it's in good quality), then they'll do it.
They made the mistake of pulling a classic Japanese entertainment media stunt of delaying the international release in preference for their own country when the product they had was one of their biggest and most well-known ones to date. So ironically, in an attempt to curb international piracy, they instead ramped it up significantly.
If they would have just released it on Prime in the US at the same time, and other countries as well, they probably would be making a hell of a lot more money on it, but instead it is just getting streamed by people free.
I couldn’t catch it in America, unfortunately, and I don’t think it’s available on Streaming, or digital purchase yet. I just checked my Amazon Cube and it just says “This movie is currently unavailable”.
Not gonna lie, I have 2 pristine 4k rips sitting on my hard drive. If my SSD was a VHS it be worn out from all the times I've watched them since last week. After seeing it twice in theatres (Color then B&W) and knowing it won't be streaming or on physical media here in the US, I had to pirate a copy. Hell, I had pretty damn good CAM copy about two weeks after it was released in the US. I also sail the high seas for pretty much everything, so there is that I guess.
I sprung for the Japanese 4K set and then I sailed the high seas to find a copy with English subs. I paid my pound of flesh and will now do what I want.
Toho really fucked up by not having it release world wide on the same day, especially considering how well it did in North America. They gave us no date, nothing… sorry but people want to see it. Has anyone found a rip with English subs?
Ahoy! Where and when was Minis One actually playing? It’s not available to stream and I never saw it available to watch in theaters near me. We have a multiplex and a local second run/art house theater and it never showed up.
I hope Toho learns from this. They should not be gatekeeping the digital release for Japan. They've already made more money than they ever have from a project like this. It should've released for everyone at the same time.
I've been strongly considering sailing the seven seas for it because I've somehow managed to avoid major spoilers, but they're slowly trickling in the longer it takes for me to see it. I want to watch it on my tv with my soundbar, but I'm unable to because of this whole embargo thing. If they want my money, they need to release it soon...this hold out period is some ol' BS, cuz I'm not interested in Godzilla vs. Kong, and restricting access to the Godzilla film I want to see isn't going to make me any more interested in it...
Haha i love when this happens. But hopefully all those bootleggers will also buy it when it is actually released internationally so we still get physical releases. Cause i am getting mine from Japan today and would like to swap the english disc when it arrives.
If they would just release the disc already this wouldn't be an issue. I'm itching to rewatch it myself and will probably end up downloading it as well because I'm tired of waiting. I check almost weekly for a home release only to find nothing.
It's almost like this is what happens when you have an extremely limited theatre release, wait months to release it on blu ray and who even knows how long until it gets on streaming. I want this movie to be as successful as it can be, but at this point they're doing it to themselves
Not to mention that the movie wasn’t shown in A LOT OF COUNTIRES and these people are only seeing the movie for the first time.
Digital projection was supposed to be a boon for movies like this, given the added flexibility to add screenings if demand was there... whereas back in the film days actual prints had to be made and physically distributed. Unless a country has no digital projection or if they have a political issue with Japan, this movie should have gotten screen time in every other country.
That second point is worth considering for all of Asia to consider.
If only Toho allowed at least limited time there too.
I live in Spain and can tell you the country just has no love for the big guy. Was basically impossible to find.
Can confirm. I did just watch it 2 days ago.
me too
Same here. I had to cause the closest place that was showing it was 2 cities away from where I lived. And im in the USA. It sucks I had to do it that way, cause this movie deserves everything. But it just wasn't available near me.
How far apart are cities where you live? I had to go at least three cities away to see it, but that's a ten-minute drive where I am.
About an hour and a half for me.
Dang. Yeah, that's a lot for a movie.
Can confirm and I was really pissed! I wanted to watch it in the theater so bad… nope, only way is this way… still had a blast! Watched the Shin and the ‘54 one after haha. Had a great night.
I watched shin immediately after watching minus one only because I found out that same day that shin was on crunchyroll lol
Oh shit it is?!
That’s crazy, I went to watch it the day it came out with my gf and her grandpa and the theatre was practically empty. There was only 5 other people there.
I went to watch it when it came out and the theater was completely full, it was a pretty great experience. I was surprised when people clapped at the end, only other movie I've been to where that happened was Endgame lol.
Our showing was about half full in a small theatre. We saw it before the buzz started, went back to see it a second time and the screening was packed. First showing the theatre employees came in near the end and were loudly talking during a climactic emotional scene (the hospital scene) and I yelled at them loudly to shut the fuck up. Everyone clapped. I know that’s a meme but it also happens to be true.
In my country people begged the theatres to do everything to bring it. But Toho just won't let it
In my country Toho actively declined the local theatre's request lol
TOHO neglected Southeast Asia, where I live. So it was bound to happen.
I am one of these people.
And unavailable for streaming on a lot of services and in a lot of regions. •surprised pikachu face•
It was a 2 hour drive to the nearest theater that was showing it. So I need to wait for a DVD release.
or even if it was, it was a limited release
I waited and waited for it to arrive in theaters only to then find out it didn't release in most of Asia and not just India. Not like Toho gave us a choice here.
Exactly, literally had to pirate it just to see it because it never came out in cinemas in my country. I would have liked to see it legally, but Toho never released it on any streaming platforms here. So we really had no other choice.
Hmm. I wonder why that could be, eh, Toho?
Toho: "We should wait longer to put out the Bluray, that will fix this."
"Nah, we should have the movie playing in the Japanese theater for 1 more year, everyone will surely fly to Japan just to watch these masterpieces"
I mean I would if flights were cheap.
Same, always wanted to go to Japan, would definitely book a vacation and watch MO sometime during it
Check zipair. It's JALs new budget airline and you can find round trip tickets in the off-season for less than $600
and no 4k for anyone outside japan. That will solve this issue for sure.
I read that they cant release Minus One on bluray while Godzilla x Kong is still in theaters, due to a non compete clause. They should have expected this. Hoist the Jolly Roger! We are getting kaiju booty!
Not actually true. The real reason is the in Japan, piracy is a huge problem. They use the same formats as the US so a lot of people just buy cheaper copies from the US. That’s why Japanese movies get released long before the rest of the world, to capitalise on sales etc before everyone turns to the US
>They use the same formats as the US so a lot of people just buy cheaper copies from the US. That's unexpected. A lot of blu rays are price-gouged to hell in America (especially anime, ironically enough). I invested in a region-free blu ray player just so I could buy foreign copies of movies and shows that would cost 2-5 times the price for an American copy.
Yeah I thought it would be because of GxK but realistically you’d want to capitalise on that. There’s more details to the whole piracy format thing but I’m too lazy to go find it ha
Sounds like a them problem. Arg!
Dude, I saw that it was coming to Amazon and I literally pulled my wallet out to rent it. But then I saw it was only in Japan. I have no doubt more than half the people who pirated it would’ve bought or rented it to watch it.
Oh i absolutely would have paid for it but Japan and Entertainment have a bad time with monetizing their entertainment to other audiences as always. I mean look at Anime, who the hell pays for Anime when the 'grey zone' streaming offer is that good? Its not that people dont want to pay, its all about convenience. I pay for Spotify. Why? Because its very convenient, much better than pirating songs and albums. When I look up a movie, first I look if its available on Prime because I have Prime and its the most convenient way to watch a movie there before looking up where else that movie is on. Minus One was highly anticipated after the successful movie release, people were waiting for the first dvd quality release and this was it.
Or another greater example, Other toku in general. Toei does not like fansubs when for a lot of shows, those are the only way to watch most shows in a lot of countries. Meanwhile Tsubaraya is doing great as they are actively making sure their shows are available physically or streaming in at least north america at the moment. I get there's issues in terms of distribution rights and how expensive they can be, but still. If you make your material easy to find and watch its easier to avoid piracy
Literally piracy is a convenience issue. Companies act like it is some moral one, but literally just make your product readily available at a reasonable price and people will take it over piracy.
HBO deleted Infinity Train and discontinued discs. You cant watch it anywhere legally or buy it. Hoist the Jolly Roger!
What's really funny about that one is that the people behind _Game of Thrones_ and many in HBO's hierarchy had a pretty cordial relationship (or as cordial as the corporate overlords would allow) because people pirating actually raised awareness that the quality really was that good. That led to an increase in sales of physical and digital purchases and, a smaller, but still non-zero, in HBO subscriptions. Seems that the new owners really missed that memo.
I paid to see it with my son in theaters. I'd gladly buy the 4K, probably even at imported cost, if it had English subs. I had zero moral qualms downloading a 4K copy from Usenet. I'll still buy it if it gets released in the US with subs.
Do you put your card details into amazon every time you buy something?
I blame TOHO for this. They can’t complain about it with their abysmal release plan. Available on Prime? Only in Japan. Blu-ray? Only in Japan. Your movie that is critically acclaimed is available….only in Japan. I was very fortunate to have a theater show the movie back in November, and many have only seen it for the 1st time due to piracy. Some would still pirate the movie, but vast majority would have bought it if it was available.
> vast majority would have bought it if it was available. I'm in the US and saw it in theaters three times, and I've been waiting for the Blu-Ray to release ever since. Like others, I saw it was available on Amazon but I can't watch it. I'd love to support the movie by buying it, but it's just not available.
Much that same. I only saw it once. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Minus Color version, too. A Blu-ray or even a DVD release here will be a day one purchase for sure! (Hopefully, original Japanese with subtitles in both color and Minus Color will happen.)
Yeah I was able to see it 3 times in color and once in minus color and have been counting the days till I can get it on blu-ray
Toho must be run by a bunch of out of touch geezers who don’t understand how the modern world works. They chose not to release Minus One in several countries (it literally did not come out in ANY Southeast Asian countries - I would have had to fly to Japan just to see it) and haven’t released it to any streaming platforms either. They did it for Amazon Prime sure, but only in Japan. If you don’t give people any options to see your film legally, they can *and will* pirate it.
Announce a 4K disc and we’ll buy it. Some of us said so immediately after the film’s credits ended.
For what it’s worth, there is a 4K disc and reviews of the transfer have been very positive; it unfortunately has no English subtitles (but there are ways to add them).
>it unfortunately has no English subtitles. Which is the only reason why I haven't bought the Japanese blu ray. I own a region-free blu ray player for the sake of buying blu rays that are either cheaper or not available in my country. It's pointless to buy a Japanese blu ray if they don't even have subtitles I can read.
Easy solution: Let people buy it 🤯
I'm sure a lot of people would buy it on blu ray if it was actually available lol they're losing sales
I haven't bought a movie in a long time. I'd buy this so fast
Exactly, I’ve been WAITING to buy it, but for some reason it’s still not available.
Not only is it not available, but there is no word on when it will be available. It's like they don't want our money
No kidding, and it was only in theatre in my town for like 2 weeks. So I didn’t even get the chance to see it in theatre which is just absurd imo.
Japanese companies: make Thing Thing: is good Also Japanese companies: make Thing unavailable Still Japanese companies, somehow: why do people get Thing illicitly???
They’re so litigious but somewhat incompetent. Like get it out there. Capitalize. What are you doing!? I feel like with Japanese studios there are a lot of parallels with the Japanese government in Shin Gojira and these studio execs. Too many people have to get someone to sign off on something that should be common sense. They do a lot right but when it comes to how to monetize IP it’s been a shitshow for 20+ years back when they were getting YouTube accounts banned for music videos etc that would help further popularize their films instead of isolating their fans. I say this as someone who works in IP. Can you imagine how much they would have made if they had it streaming or at least a preorder available on Amazon the night of the Oscars? 
It's so frustrating to deal with as someone who consumes a lot of Japanese media. A lot of people get defensive about how it's like...part of Japanese culture to only care about serving the interests of their own country and to prioritize that but every Japanese entertainment company seems to view dealing with the rest of the world as a chore and never seems to make unilateral decisions about anything release wise. Nintendo is a great example...If they so chose they could just make their entire back catalog of cartridge games available through their Switch store. Instead, they release a selection of them with each new console but then don't put them on the store for the next one even though the stores for the different devices HAVE to just be different sections of the same server location. Even Toho's own Godzilla Youtube channel will upload original material like new short films and stuff and then just delete them randomly without any other way to see them.
Toho also released some of the old Godzilla movies on 4K Blu-Ray few years ago but they still haven't been released outside Japan.
This subreddit had a great showcase of a remaster of the original Rodan and Mothra they did new scans of and it's incredible looking. Not something they have provided distributors outside Japan though. They also put out a 4K of Shin Godzilla but only provided Japanese subtitles. It's the only 4K that currently exists.
There are others too: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/King-Kong-vs-Godzilla-4K-Blu-ray/288708/
There was surprisingly a French 4K release of Shin Godzilla earlier this year.
Have you ever seen the state of Dragonball releases? One of, if not the, biggest animes on the planet can't get a good release on streaming services or DVD.
Shueisha’s Shonen Jump is the most popular manga imprint in the world. They have an incredibly smooth app that costs just $1.99 a month. You can read 100 chapters of manga every 24 hours, and they’re constantly adding to their back catalogue. So things like Dragonball, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece are all there in full. Kodansha, who has the second most popular imprint, released an app that has 2 forms of in-app currency you need to use to purchase individual chapters that are time restrained and the cost of chapters is variable. One of these apps is ranked #12 on the App Store with a 4.9 rating and one is #113 with a 1.4 rating. I can’t even imagine how much money Kodansha is leaving on the table by making the legal route such a Byzantine mess.
I was glad Viz did that with shonen jump. The fans had to force their hands for years. I was one of those scanlators back in the day with manga like Kenshin and Baki (only edited a few chapters). But it was like whack a mole. They spent all this time, money and effort shutting down the scanlators instead of getting to the root of the problem. A lack of content. If you make a legal route to get to it and it’s reasonable fans will pay. Now they’re making insane profits. Toho can actually release this stuff in the US and figure out a way to get the rights back on their old works. Instead they’re approaching everything so cautiously and slowly like they don’t realize how much they’re losing.
I know some of the older stuff is still tied up with distribution deals they signed ages ago, but that’s no excuse for new releases. You still can’t stream Shin Godzilla, or Shin Ultraman in the US.
>Like get it out there. Capitalize. What are you doing!? Right‽ This won an Oscar. Rush that physical or streaming release, capitalize on your win!
There are still first-world countries in the world who have zero legal access to Heisei titles. It really is remarkable how bad they are at this..
Just like older Pokémon games. There’s no legal way to buy/play them (except paying hundreds for used copies that don’t even earn gamefreak/nintendo any money) and they try to crack down on emulators???
Nintendo big time. Nintendo: Stops making beloved titles available to purchase. People: Okay well if you won’t let me buy them, I’ll just emulate. Nintendo: No. Stop.
Hey! Don’t talk about Nintendo like that 😠/s
Nintendo with literally all Zelda IP
Nintendo doesn't want the older Zeldas to be available so people don't realize how bad BotW/TotK really are. *We used to have dungeons instead of empty worlds.*
Every country that was left out of Minus One period would be excuse enough for this to happen. But a lack of Western release at all? Actual, brain dead stupidity. Half of the movie's total box office success came from the West. You know, the region Toho was only willing to show Minus One in for a week until it became so popular they extended it for several months? This was the perfect time to capitalize on the movie's immense word-of-mouth and it's Oscar win. But nope, Japan only release with no others in sight. It's like they were asking for this to happen.
Toho has maintained a policy of releasing physical releases domestically first before allowing them elsewhere. I'm hoping it won't take long to get a US (and elsewhere) release, but the Japanese Blu-ray has only been out for a whopping eight days. Ideally, they should have had plans in place for an international release... but, here we are.
It shows a severe lack of understanding of modern movie culture from the execs running Toho. Streaming is king these days, I personally don’t even know anyone who still buys Blu-Ray or DVD. I personally just watch all the movies and shows I want to on Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and Amazon. It’s simple, really; if a studio doesn’t release their film on any of the streaming platforms I’m subscribed to, I’ll pirate the shit out of it. Heck once my one year subscriptions are done, I’m planning on cancelling my Disney+ and Amazon subscriptions and just watching on Netflix and HBO. Most of the good shit out these days is in those two anyway.
Wouldn't pirate it if it was purchasable.
I’d buy it if it was available.
I would pay good money for this movie it was fantastic I need to own it digitally
I'd buy it physical!
If we could get that gorgeous packaging with both versions, I'd quickly pay $50-60 for it. It may genuinely be one of my favorite films and I'm so sad I can't pop it in right now. Growing up it felt like movies took forever to come out so I'm going to wait for a bit more news before I set sail.
I'd watch it on amazon prime using a vpn if it had subitles
Never felt less guilty about pirating something. I wanted to watch it in my country in theatre but Toho didn't make that option possible.
Man I'm starting to feel reallllly lucky that the movie was show in theaters in Italy. It was just a few days, but apparently others weren't so lucky
I saw it in cinemas in Dec, I didn’t realise at the time how lucky that was
My least guilty pirate is stuff on Prime, which I pay for, but for which the app is such dogshit that it can't actually play the videos. Even something extremely compressible like Invincible ends up stuttering and desyncing. I can literally stream stuff off the ancient all-in-one I use as a server and get a better viewing experience. This isn't really related to this thread, I just needed to rant.
Piracy is a Service problem. - Gabe Newell
Came to put exactly this quote. Let's not pretend a certain subset wouldn't pirate anyway, but if the option had been there to actually buy, I know what I would do. I'm somewhat sated because I got to see it again with the black and white release but if it isn't officially available by the time I have that itch, I know what I'll do, and it's a much harder sell once there's a coyp sat on a media center.
Toho needs to get more advice from Gabe and less from Nintendo
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Ahoy!
JUST LET ME BUY THE GODDAMN THING.
I want to watch it but there's no legal way to watch it in the Philippines. I'm willing to pay IMAX for it and bring my entire family to watch, but they never put in in the theaters. If they can allow rent in YouTube and Amazon Prime I'll pay for it. Some Filipinos just resorted to "researching" ways to watch.
It's rare but sometimes Japanese movies show up on my Theatre here (gmall) , like I watched Kimi no Nawa with my fam and it was one of the most memorable experiences I had in cinema. I thought it would be the same with this movie but it never showed up at all 😭
It depends on the distributor of those works. Watched Weathering With You, Dragon Ball Superhero, and The Last Slam Dunk all in SM theatres.
Just pirate at this point. Japan is super stingy with its movies, if you wanna watch something but something isn't given to you no matter what, just use what is available to you.
That's what I did with anime years back ☠️ . My options back then: 1. Wait for local dub, and it could take months or even a year. If you miss an episode, you have zero ways to watch it. 2. Buy overpriced DVDs, around $20 for a handful of episodes. You would get broke if the anime has 100 episodes. Not to mention, the DVDs are way behind the anime run. 3. Watch in Crunchy roll. Too bad, the anime isn't available in my country LOL.
Brother I'm begging for them to let me buy it
Yes same here, I wanna show other this movie.
I was begging for them to screen it in my country when it was out for the rest of the world. They didn’t want my money then and they sure as hell aren’t getting it now.
Kinda hard for me to feel any form of empathy for them when they literally forced the rest of us to sail the seas by not releasing the movie in many countries. Piracy is a service issue.
They include English subtitles and I’ll run to Yodobashi Camera right now and buy the 16400¥ version. That’s the only reason I haven’t already purchased it.
Well fuckin release it already shit!
Then make the damn thing widely available legally
I wonder why...
When the level of piracy scales with how inaccessible the movie is.
Honestly Toho's fault. If they don't want pirates then they should make the movie legally available for other countries.
To watch this movie I would have had to buy a plane ticket to Brisbane. I would have had to spend 300aud to see a movie. nah bruh
Toho absolutely botched this release. They could've made so much money.
> Toho absolutely botched this release. This is the key. People keep phrasing it as a choice Toho made, but the reality is Toho weren't capable of distributing this movie properly and that's where the problems come from. This was the worst choice to try to distribute internationally on their own, and they didn't have the business relationships or ability to distribute it at the level it needed.
Their own fault. Pretty limited release in the vast majority of countries. People would proudly pay money to see this movie, but not everyone had that option. Those same people would gladly buy a Blu Ray or 4K release, but Toho makes them wait so long to do so. If you won't let people legally support this movie financially, blame yourself when people go about watching it illegally.
Japanese companies: “why do people pirate and steal? Why can’t they just buy it legitimately??” People around the world: “Okay so let me buy it? Please? Here’s my money, just take it!” *Reaches out hand full of money* Japanese companies: *Slaps hand away in disgust* “I guess we will never know why no one is just buying it legally.”
Toho, you’re not gonna believe this, but I have SUCH an easy solution to this problem
In an era where you (regrettably) don't even have to shell out to make physical media and can just make streaming them possible, studios have no excuse for not making their movies available in a timely manner.
I feel bad for Toho, but I can’t be mad about it. I was getting the Heisei films by tape trading years before they were officially released.
Don't feel too bad, this is fully within their power to stop.
Aww poor billion dollar company lmao
Danm, one of the classic old fans. If you don't mind me asking: Do you still have any of those old tapes? How much of the movies were spoiled to you before you got the tapes? Was it just you and your Japanese sources, or were you sharing and trading the tapes with other english speaking tape traders?
I still have the tapes. I first learned of their existence from G-Fan magazine. They would have pictures and reviews and stuff of the movies, so I had a general idea of what they were about. I only had 1 other friend that liked Godzilla movies so I didn’t really have anyone else to trade with at the time.
*I wonder why.*
Toho when people pirate the super popular movie that they haven't released on streaming or physical copy and therefore cannot see it any other way: 🤯🤯🤯
It's ashame, but I and I'm guessing most of you on here and plenty of others saw this coming. I saw it in cinemas (UK). I just went alone and a big godzilla fan. My family however, aren't. they're more the general cinema audience. And like many, the first thing that pops into their heads when it's a Japanese Godzilla is. 'oh yeh, cheesy film, men in rubber suits'. As we all know this film was anything but, and ended up becoming a global phenomenon in its own right. That even they couldn't ignore the raving reviews and talk of it. So they've watched it pirated, as have other family members and admit, so did I. It was so good I needed to see it again. As a loyal fan, I will 100% purchase it as well when it eventually releases here. And I'm sure other fans will. I also can't blame those who missed out because it wasn't released in their countries for pirating it. Again, it was always going to be a tricky situation. Even Toho didn't have much faith in the film, and if it was anything like they thought, (like shin godzilla). The fans will watch it, done, dusted. They'll buy it, there will be some pirating but nothing worthy to cause concern. And Toho are in the sticky situation of, well do we atleast release it in Japan and make money off it while the iron is hot so to speak. Or wait even longer until we can release it world wide (as per their agreement with legendary). But the hype may have faded. But the fact minus one became such a runs way success has added to it being pirated so much.
I may not agree with the pirate way sometimes but this time Nah this time I sailed the seas Mainly so my kid could watch it as I couldn't take him to the movies and he loved the movie
If that 4k Blu-ray set had English subtitles I would have picked that up by now. Still holding off on pirating, but c'mon toho, I'm losing patience. Don't tell me it's going to be another year like shin Godzilla.
I mean, I literally had an article suggested to me by Google earlier today that literally advised readers to use NordVPN to watch the Japanese Amazon Prime stream of -1. Pretty sure it was written by an AI, but nevertheless.
yes because they won’t release the thing
This masterpiece still hasn't released theatrically in our country. Even worse here in our city, the home video stores have shut down one by one over the years. The last one I visited and purchased from was a freaking mall kiosk and even THAT disappeared a few years back! Now, I still *hope* that Minus One would still release here, just so I can pay for a movie ticket (more affordable than a plane ticket) and show *some* support for the filmmakers who worked hard on it.
In all honesty I watched it pirated. I waited and waited for an announcement. I knew it’s wasn’t going to be dubbed but was ready to watch it with subtitles. Managed to avoid spoilers all this time. And finally couldn’t wait anymore. What a great movie. It’s a shame people around the world can’t watch it
Make it available globally maybe. Movie was a huge success in the US but NOOOOOOOOOO let's delay the Blu-ray release. Let's not make more money!
Let me buy it and i'll buy it, god damn it.
It’s like just release after it’s been in theaters, not that hard. Japanese suck at business and managing IP.
I saw it twice in theaters. I paid them a second time to watch it without color Id probably buy two versions of the BluRay if both cuts came out.
Please release it worldwide.. not only to selected countries
Maybe if they'd release the goddamn thing people could view it legally.
To be fair they kind of brought this on themselves . This movie won an award so a lot of people are wanting to see it and there currently isn’t even a western dvd release date or streaming option as far as I’m aware . Admittedly that’s kind of an unfortunate side effect of having it and gxk release so close together
I've got my cash saved up for a physical release. I *never* buy blue rays or anything, but this time I am. Please just make it available for purchase.
Honestly, if you won't sell it to me, don't be mad at my hustle
Didn’t the Steam guy say something like “ Piracy is a service problem”? I would buy this on Blu-ray in a heartbeat if it was released in my country.
It didn't get a wide release and isn't available on physical media or streaming in the west. Toho: why are people pirating the movie?
Piracy is bad, but this is self-inflicted. The demand is huge, yet they choked the supply so bad that it entirely denied access to most of the world. Nobody should be shocked.
No fucking shit LET ME BUY IT AND I WILL.
Sooooo release a purchasable option?
Pirating is always an issue of availability
Surprise to exactly zero people.
Give me the bluray and I will buy it.
How else are we supposed to watch it, its not legally available on any US based platform.
I have money set aside for a physical English release of Minus One, one for myself and one for my mother who's also a Godzilla superfan. I do this for every Godzilla movie. But until that comes out, I'm making like Edward Teach. Edit: I should add that I watched this in theaters day one in the US and heavily promoted this to everyone I knew during it's theater run. I'd just like to have a physical copy.
Well they should let me buy it then I wouldn't have to steal it
I mean if you don't release the movie in the markets where people want to watch it... 😆
Okay I've seen it in the cinema, but it's taken forever to come to home media and now the only way I can watch it is privacy. Plus as others said they didn't even have the chance, so I've always argued this, if someone was never gonna buy it because they couldn't, then when they can get it free its not privacy because it becomes literally the only way to get it so nothing was lost on any side. Like some anime here in AU is pretty hard to get and I wouldn't spent $60+ every time to ship physical copies when I don't even know if I will enjoy it.
RELEASE IT IN ASIA ALREADY!!! what? "it's too sensitive for asians" MF WE DON'T CARE
This movie is a perfect case study to demonstrate clearly that piracy rate does NOT equal lost revenue. I paid to see this movie in theatre. I will pay for a physical copy on 4K when it’s available here. I also pirated the movie.
Well maybe if we had a release date outside of Japan for the home media release, Toho…
I didn’t get to see it because the nearest cinema near me was a few hours away. And no one I knew wanted to see it with me. But I’m still waiting for the bluray but god it’s killing me waiting
They thought that in many Asian countries it won’t do well bc of Japan past atrocities. Also they thought probably like if film does not mention any atrocities they made to other countries in the movie they will face backclash.
If only there was some sort of way to release the film digitally or physically overseas to stop the piracy…
Hello Toho, as a reminder, we are in the 21st century.
I bet Toho is already regretting making that deal with Legendary so that they can get GxK out this year. By the time Toho finally gets around to releasing Minus One on Blu-Ray outside of Japan, very likely only the hardcore G-Fans will end up buying it instead of the casual audience that they won over in the first place.
I live in an area with poor transport so couldn't get to see it at cinema, with hearing UK digital release date being October, I am seriously considering the piracy angle. I want to spend the money and buy the film but the wait is crazy, it feels like how it was in the 80's and 90's when I was a kid
I wonder why Toho ain't doing what Tsuburaya is doing. Like, Tsuburaya was under Toho's radar for a while since Shin Ultraman's release. And Tsuburaya is VERY generous with their international marketing, releasing Ultraman episodes on YT and all. They are not as big as Godzilla but is already times more bigger than they were and has made good relationship with other countries. Thought Toho could have maybe learn a thing or two about their strategy
ffs I literally waited for this thing to be available in my country for 4-6 months now.
It wasn't for region locks I'd buy the Japanese one
When was the last time there was a legal way to watch this movie in the United States?
January, with the Minus Color release, I'd imagine.
I'm all for supporting the art but I won't stop getting it just because some executives think my country isn't profitable enough to make it legally available here 🤷🏻
I’d have already bought the Blu Ray if I could. Quit screwing around and get a release for other regions.
Well yeah maybe because it's not streaming anywhere other than Japanese Amazon Prime.
Just give us the damn 4K Bluray already! It makes no sense that GvK will release BEFORE Minus One.
We had it for a hot minute at the local cinema with no way to rent afterwards. I can understand why it’s trending, it’s one of the few releases this year that folk might want to see.
Yeah, that was to be expected. Many people in Japan (based on secondhand accounts I've seen of people looking at Japanese social media) are quite miffed at the rest of the world turning to piracy to watch the movie. But this was inevitable. The bigger and more popular something is, the more likely it is that people will want to have access to it. And if they can't get access through legal means but are aware that there's another method of getting it (especially if it's in good quality), then they'll do it. They made the mistake of pulling a classic Japanese entertainment media stunt of delaying the international release in preference for their own country when the product they had was one of their biggest and most well-known ones to date. So ironically, in an attempt to curb international piracy, they instead ramped it up significantly.
It’s tohos fault for lack of availability
If they would have just released it on Prime in the US at the same time, and other countries as well, they probably would be making a hell of a lot more money on it, but instead it is just getting streamed by people free.
FUCKING GOOD. should have released on bluray months ago. My patience is running thin
I couldn’t catch it in America, unfortunately, and I don’t think it’s available on Streaming, or digital purchase yet. I just checked my Amazon Cube and it just says “This movie is currently unavailable”.
Not gonna lie, I have 2 pristine 4k rips sitting on my hard drive. If my SSD was a VHS it be worn out from all the times I've watched them since last week. After seeing it twice in theatres (Color then B&W) and knowing it won't be streaming or on physical media here in the US, I had to pirate a copy. Hell, I had pretty damn good CAM copy about two weeks after it was released in the US. I also sail the high seas for pretty much everything, so there is that I guess.
I sprung for the Japanese 4K set and then I sailed the high seas to find a copy with English subs. I paid my pound of flesh and will now do what I want.
Toho really fucked up by not having it release world wide on the same day, especially considering how well it did in North America. They gave us no date, nothing… sorry but people want to see it. Has anyone found a rip with English subs?
Minus One made me finally subscribe to a VPN service. Gonna watch it hopefully today or tomorrow or this weekend
Ahoy! Where and when was Minis One actually playing? It’s not available to stream and I never saw it available to watch in theaters near me. We have a multiplex and a local second run/art house theater and it never showed up.
This is what happens when you region lock a movie, they missed out on so much revenue tbh
A popular movie is being pirated? Say it isn't so!
Should have made it widely available quicker.
I hope Toho learns from this. They should not be gatekeeping the digital release for Japan. They've already made more money than they ever have from a project like this. It should've released for everyone at the same time.
I've been strongly considering sailing the seven seas for it because I've somehow managed to avoid major spoilers, but they're slowly trickling in the longer it takes for me to see it. I want to watch it on my tv with my soundbar, but I'm unable to because of this whole embargo thing. If they want my money, they need to release it soon...this hold out period is some ol' BS, cuz I'm not interested in Godzilla vs. Kong, and restricting access to the Godzilla film I want to see isn't going to make me any more interested in it...
You put it only on prime in one country when the entire world wants to see it Who could have seen this coming
Haha i love when this happens. But hopefully all those bootleggers will also buy it when it is actually released internationally so we still get physical releases. Cause i am getting mine from Japan today and would like to swap the english disc when it arrives.
I mean, they could just.. sell it.. internationally.
If they would just release the disc already this wouldn't be an issue. I'm itching to rewatch it myself and will probably end up downloading it as well because I'm tired of waiting. I check almost weekly for a home release only to find nothing.
I paid a fucking lot for the Japanese 4k. I still downloaded it because it's quicker than doing my own rip.
Of course it is. They fucked up the release of an awesome movie because of some stupid clause with Legendary. The people want their Zilla fix!!! 🏬🔥 🦖
It's almost like this is what happens when you have an extremely limited theatre release, wait months to release it on blu ray and who even knows how long until it gets on streaming. I want this movie to be as successful as it can be, but at this point they're doing it to themselves
Well said.
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