ROARING ONTO SCREENS: GODZILLA MINUS ONE'S DIGITAL LEAP

In the age of downloads, the biggest film of the year – Godzilla Minus One – has jumped ahead, and landed on not a movie screen, but straight to Netflix and digital platforms; a monumental trek from the cinema to living room that gives new audiences and old enthusiasts the opportunity to see one of the year’s most anticipated megacinematic disasters from home and, for better and worse, that’s transforming the way audiences watch movies.

THE DIGITAL DAWN: A NEW ERA FOR BLOCKBUSTERS

From the perspective of the early 21st century, Godzilla Minus One has become part of a revolution. The film has found a new home on Netflix and other digital platforms, a testament to the rapid digitalisation of the once celluloid-bound medium of film. It is more than just a matter of migration, but a milestone along the way to an ever-increasing digitalisation of cinema and its domestic release patterns and practices, and a preview of a future in which the titans of moviedom will be free to roam the digital hills.

MORE THAN A MONSTER MOVIE: WHAT "GODZILLA MINUS ONE" BRINGS TO NETFLIX

Godzilla Minus One doesn’t feel like the latest plot point in the long-running MonsterVerse, but like the culmination of a colossal event that happens to be projected onto a screen for us to enjoy. It’s a presentation of epic struggles and massive cinema that can find the immediate popular consciousness by relying on Netflix’s reach, touting a movie that’s ‘coming to you’ by allowing it to come directly to your screen.

A SURPRISE MOVE: DELIGHTING FANS AND WINNING NEW ADMIRERS

This leap to digital networks is a brilliant tactical transition. By releasing Godzilla Minus One as a Netflix option, the film not only sustains its existing fan base but also opens doors to a whole new demographic of viewers. It bridges the gap between the theatrical audience of yesteryear and today’s burgeoning digital audience. Such a tactical option is exactly the kind of play that could widen the film’s potential impact.

THE VISUAL FEAST: WHY "GODZILLA MINUS ONE" IS A MUST-WATCH

There are, of course, plenty of other reasons to watch Godzilla Minus One: the visually striking fight scenes, which help to usher in a visual standard for the MonsterVerse; the inherently bizarre nature of Godzilla, as reimagined for America, gurgling and spewing instead of roaring; and the breathtaking, haunting landscapes from Japan that the rest of the world has come to associate as being ‘another planet’. The shift to Netflix and digital streaming means fans get to revisit many of the adrenaline-laced action scenes in high definition. Doing it this way preserves every monster mash and dramatic vista to be enjoyed as they were meant to be. For that reason alone, it’s a necessary inclusion in any digital catalogue.

CHARTING THE FUTURE: WHAT THIS MOVE MEANS FOR CINEMA

The distribution of Godzilla Minus One on Netflix and other digital channels suggests that the entertainment industry has finally begun to comprehend the game-changing nature of digital delivery, not only as a complement to cinematic distribution but as a way to lead the next filmmaking paradigm shift – as the new site of the blockbuster. If these and the other films discussed above are harbingers of things to come, then we are heading toward a time when future blockbuster events are taking off in the digital realm from the very beginning.

REFLECTING ON THE MOVE

‘Godzilla Minus One’ traverses theatrical venues to computational screens Pivoting between ‘Godzilla Minus One’ on the silver screen and its move to Netflix and other digital circuits, how we watch is transfixed by an oscillation between digital and cinema screens, between immobility and streaming. This pivot in the fortunes of Godzilla Minus One – surprising and gratifying to its fans – is a sign of how streaming content’s tentacles have invaded cinematic showrooms and how audiences are being cajoled by these new flows of computerised content to the new cinema of ubiquity.

This portends less a ‘move to digital’ than a reconstitution of the market for entertainment. The very availability of Godzilla Minus One for streaming on Netflix presages other films going the same way, and it’s not hard to imagine how quickly more of these releases will become available over the next decade. It’s a catolisation of fan excitability, to be sure, but it is also a concrete acknowledgment of digital media’s increasing ability to help redefine new forms for the experience of watching moving pictures in the 21st century, every release another chance to engage in distributed viewing practices and to craft a shared viewing adventure.

All in all, the film is a revolutionary way of looking at the future of telling monumental tales to a worldwide audience – that every tale, accessible to every human being, deserves to be told multilingually and to be as diverse and as innovative as possible. With each step we take towards a more digital existence, Godzilla Minus One is a signal of the limitless directions that the entertainment industry could head towards – with every jump, however jarring and new, leading us to new worlds of storytelling.