 The newest Godzilla movie from Japan is breaking US box office records right now, but it's also causing a lot of political controversy. We're going to talk about it. We did not mean for Godzilla minus one to be used this way, but perhaps that is the times that we are living in. And we got to talk about Godzilla minus one breaking records for top grossing live action Japanese movie in the US. And it is approaching hero and crouching tiger hidden dragon territory. This is a surprise in the entertainment industry. Dude, this is a big hit movie. And I'll tell you this guys, I like to kind of keep up with movies. I didn't really know this movie came out. Like I didn't see that much ads for it. And like, I mean, I just didn't cross my way. Obviously a lot of people saw it. So shout out to you guys. I might go see it in the theater this weekend. But basically it's a Godzilla movie from Japan based off the original source material of the original Godzilla, not these American Godzilla movies. Right. Where Godzilla is like essentially like a walking human. It's essentially a remake of the 1970s film where it's like. Oh, 1954. 1954 with the Japanese people. And then Godzilla is Godzilla. It's Gojira. Gojira in a suit. And then they're knocking over the cardboard buildings. And it's actually an analogy for the despair of post-World War II Japan. But that's where we get into the political aspects. We're going to break it down and some comments. Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications, Andrew. But you know what's hot right now? I don't know if it's as hot as Gojira number minus one, but it could be. I wish this was as hot as this movie, but it's just falling short. It's in second place. Check out Somala Sauce. It's shipping right now. Hundreds of people have gotten their orders. They love it. Check out the Instagram. We guys, we got to talk about the three controversies surrounding this movie. And of course anytime anything makes news nowadays, Andrew, people use it for their own agenda. Some people think it's legitimate or not legitimate to think about this intersectionalogy. One, there's a lot of articles coming out from the West saying, man, they made this movie for $15 million in Japan. The director, Yamazaki said it costs 13 million. It's already grossed that much in the U.S. It's already made 15 million in the U.S. So basically people are like, what's Hollywood getting wrong? Are the costs too bloated? And that turns into like the writers and the actor strike thing. Is it too woke or is it too politicized? Because Japan doesn't have that aspect, right? Obviously to their films. And then like, are we just not respecting the original source material? Because in the original source material, Godzilla is bad. In America, they've turned them into what? An Avenger. So I guess those are the three debates going on in America right now. So let's break it down. Let's go through them because I think one of them, the more political one, I think is the more interesting one, the one that has to do with geopolitics and history, right? But let's talk about the America debates, right? The budget that they were able to make it for. We all know that right now Asia specifically Korea and now it's proven that Japan or I think they always proved it. But you know, a lot of Korean material was always being produced for a low amount. The Netflix material was making Netflix a lot of money. The margin splits are way better. Yeah, because it just costs so much less to make it in Korea. And then you export it here for American dollars and you get a really good deal. Now it's the same thing that's happening with this movie. But this is a live action movie with a lot of CGI. So a lot of people are amazed that they were able to make it for what is almost said to be a $13 million budget. It's like a TV show budget and they made a movie. Yeah, that's how much comedies in America cost. Comedies in America cost like $20 to $30 million. And then a lot of people were arguing is it because the American actors and the writers get paid too much or is it because the Japanese actors get paid too little or is it because obviously CGI costs in Asia and are significantly cheaper. But also the CGI is not as good. So there was a lot of, you know, Right, right. The CGI is a shy, is just a little bit a notch below Hollywood level. But regardless the movies. And there's the wokeness debate. People are saying everything in America, obviously they have to, they change it. They deviate it from it to push a political agenda. And then people are saying in Japan, obviously there's a different society, even though people view Japan as kind of westernized. Socially, it's still way different. I think it's refreshing to see this because it's a remake of the original source material where Godzilla is not maybe, maybe, I didn't watch the movie yet, but it's not maybe a monster that you're supposed to empathize with. You know, in American movies, they always want you to empathize with the monster and the villain. It's true. Basically turn Godzilla into a human. Yeah. I mean, I would say, yeah. The one with Matthew Broderick back that took place in New York back in the early 2000s. Yeah, with Jimmy Page and Puff Daddy on the soundtrack. That was a good one. But other than that, basically, I haven't liked a lot of the new Godzilla movies. Right. And we got to get to the geopolitical thing going on right now. This is, you know, it's difficult to talk about, but it is what it is right now. Andrew, it's going to be released. It's released in Japan. It did well. It's released in America is going to do well. I mean, it's already done well. It's going to go to Europe. It's going to do well. It doesn't have an Asia release right now, because at the end of the day, it is depicting 1947 Japan. It's post war and there are imperial Japanese soldiers in it that just lost and they're fighting Godzilla and they're kind of like showing their humanity, the torment. I heard the movie doesn't show imperial Japan in a good light, but it's like people just don't want to see it in Asia. I'm pretty sure a lot of people were talking about it will not get a China release. It will not get a South Korea release and even the other countries in Asia, because if you guys know about history, Japan was going all around Asia. Philippines, Vietnam, Korea. It's very questionable. It will get any release even in Malaysia. Yeah. No Singapore. Not Singapore. A lot of people think that there's no word on it. So basically think about it. There's this movie and it's not really directly addressing these themes, but their themes are kind of on the side. Asia is probably not going to get a release due to the atrocities and people feel about history. Essentially, you're saying that in the movie, it probably, maybe not explicitly, but you come to empathize and you're humanizing 1940s Japan, but 1940s Japan was at least the Japanese army. I don't know about the citizens. The army was doing horrific things to the rest of Asia. Right. So that's why it doesn't have the Asia release. So of course, because history is real and it's brutal and history is nasty, that if you make a movie, even if it's a great artistic movie. Right. It's not even about that topic specifically. But it depicts that point in history. It's going to trigger a lot of people, right? And it's going to make people feel some type of way. I guess I can understand knowing how China blocks a lot of movies. I'm not surprised that this movie does not even get a release because there's movies from America that never even released in China that have nothing to do with any sort of like controversy. Really? Right. They're like kind of like a very unrelated theme or you'd have to make a reach. Yeah, I just have like Winnie the Pooh in it. I highly doubt this was one's airing in China and South Korea, to be honest. Yeah, I could see. I wonder if South Korea, I listen. The people who run governments are still usually older, but they do generally always know their history and history is nasty. So I guess is it wrong for these Asian countries to not show this Godzilla movie? Man, I'm not going to tell anybody who went through. No, no, no. What would you do? What's your opinion? Not that you can tell them what is right or wrong, but you're like, should people get over it? Or it's just tough because, I mean, the governments will just make the call. I mean, I think that definitely the people who want to see the movie will be able to bootlegg it and watch it in, obviously, those countries. But it's tough for me to make a judgment call because the older people, they went through it. What if you released it, limited release in those Asian countries? I just don't think they're going to do it, man. It's just not going to be just too crazy. Yeah. Well, history, man, I mean, things happen. And if those people went through it, then what can you say? Yeah, yeah. Also, content from Asia in general, Andrew, they're making it for cheaper, higher margins, parasites, squid games, physical 100, singles, inferno, anime. Does it appeal? What segment of the Western population? Is it more nerdy? Is it more tech workers? Because it's like America is so big and it's so vast and it's such a large market. I don't think the NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, MLB crowd makes up a huge amount of these like Godzilla, Gojira minus one watchers. But certainly there's a big portions of the Western world that do want to watch it. Yeah, I think a lot. I think usually to hit the masses, it does need to be dubbed in English because there are some people out there that just find it hard to watch an entire movie in a language that they don't understand. Right. You got to force them to read the subtitles. Right. But then the dubbing is not always good. Like squid games, obviously, a lot of people still watched it dubbed in English. Right, right, right. Like millions of people. I think the Normie crowd did. Millions of people did, right? So I think that is it more like weeaboos and Korea booze or like East Asian booze that are going to watch this or geeks or nerds? I don't know, but I think if you've ever watched a foreign film, it probably doesn't is not going to bother you yet. But I do think the consumption of all the Korean material in the Korean language has also helped people that many people consume Godzilla more. Right, right, right, right. Because that's a good point. It's all like for a lot of people, it's all one pool of foreign material. Yeah, I'm not saying anything. I mean even crouching tiger and hidden dragon hero might have played into it. Oh yeah, yeah. I'm saying it all. It's like just. I mean, parasite, no. It's just like Asian material to people. Parasite winning, I think helps too. You know what I mean? All these things that lead up. And maybe people watching Kung Fu Flicks, even that from the 70s, you know, Bruce Lee and Mike. A lot of those were dubbed though. But yeah, exactly. I know what you mean. Yeah, I mean, just to give my final word on the controversies, Andrew, I think, you know, what does Hollywood get wrong? Dude, listen, even the cost of a house and you can get a pretty decent house in Japan for like 150,000. You cannot do that in America. So of course, the extras in the Japanese film industry get paid way less. Their film industry, Andrew, is a way less economically steroid hypercharged out. So it's like when it comes to that point, I'm like, dude, it's almost impossible. They're not SAG extras that are getting, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I mean, like, I'm sure they get lunch break, but it's not like how it, you know, you've been on film sets in America. Everybody's like, hey, can you do that? Nope, I'm on lunch. You know what I'm saying? Like, they just, it's a different, completely different structure of production over there. So here's my last question. Do you think, and I wonder if there's any stories of the cast or people joining to work and be part of this movie with some sense of Japanese nationalism? Like thinking that this is a project that you want to be part of for Japan's sake, you know, Japan for like, for the country. I don't think they actually think about it that way from what I know about the Japanese market. It's very domestic centric. And it just so happens that occasionally, a domestically produced film for the domestic market has a lot of universal appeal, but they don't design it that way off the rip. That is what I've been told of form from even Japanese people. Anyway, Andrew, ultimately, what's your takeaway? She got controversies. Takashi Yamazaki did a great job. I'm going to watch this movie this week. But it's interesting in 2023, everything is like politicized, right? But in a way, is it right or is it wrong or is everything intersectional? Yeah, I mean, I guess in every movie where British colonialism is depicted, are they depicted as the bad guys or is it like neutral sometimes? Is it ever neutral? I don't know. I mean, even Oppenheimer's release in Japan was controversial too, because obviously in the movie, it depicts the real-life events of dropping the bombs on Japan. Yeah, that is fair. That Oppenheimer developed, right? Yeah, I can see that. I can see why it was controversial in Japan. So I guess what I'm saying is movies are controversial quite literally. So I guess it doesn't surprise me that all these things about Gojira minus one are just popping up, even though the movie heads are more on a movie side. Yeah, I guess the main difference is that Oppenheimer is essentially more based on more or less fact and this Godzilla movie is completely fake. Right, right. Anyway, guys, let us know what you think. Shout out to, like I said, to the team behind Gojira minus one. I'm a fan. I'm going to watch it this week. I've always been a fan of all the Godzilla movies, but yeah, obviously there is some like really tough conversations that I guess could derive or shoot off from the tree branch. Anyway, let us know what you think in the comment section below. We encourage the discussion. Until next time, we're the hot-pots. We out. Peace.