Why Godzilla Minus Zero's Sound Is So Loud Officially Clarified By Director

Published Nov 8, 2026, 1:12 PM EST Fariba Rezwan is a Lead Editor for the Movie News team. She has been with ScreenRant for nearly five years, with roles ranging from list editor to junior news editor. During that time, Fariba has led coverage for breaking movies and TV news, including Hunger Games, Marvel, and streaming. Additionally, she has actively provided commentary and reactions to the biggest movies and shows on her YouTube channel, The Movieception Show. The kaiju roars in Godzilla Minus Zero are certainly getting attention in the room. Toho's kaiju sequel is now in theaters, showcasing Godzilla's return as King Ghidorah becomes a major threat to humanity. Given the incredible response to Minus One, director-writer Takashi Yamazaki and his creative team enhanced the viewing experience, as Minus Zero becomes the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX. As a result, the technical achievements mean an expanded aspect ratio for 75 minutes and a tailored sound design. That is not going unnoticed, particularly its sound. Many moviegoers iterated that Godzilla Minus Zero is perhaps one of the loudest movies to watch. One X user, patrick., even shared that they received a "loud environment" warning from their smartwatch, as Godzilla's roar hit as high as 90 decibels. Since then, other audience members have shared that the sequel is very loud in IMAX. In an interview with IndieWire, Yamazaki knew that the IMAX experience meant "walking away from my experiences feeling very shaken to my core. I wanted to evoke that same emotion." Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order. With the intensity of the kaiju roars evoked in Godzilla Minus Zero, "I wanted the audience to experience a very real sense of fear. I think back to when we were monkeys and predators would chase after us. That's the type of fear I wanted people to experience, that sense of being out in the wild and feeling tense because you hear the roar of something that would chase after and eat you." "When people hear the term “IMAX,” the focus tends to be on the visual aspects and the imagery. While that’s fair, IMAX’s capacity to express various sounds and create a sonic experience is quite amazing and underrated. When the team and I decided to film “Godzilla Minus Zero” in IMAX, we watched a lot of films to prepare, and no matter the film, I remember walking away from my experiences feeling very shaken to my core. I wanted to evoke that same emotion. When the kaiju roar in this film, I wanted the audience to experience a very real sense of fear. I think back to when we were monkeys and predators would chase after us. That’s the type of fear I wanted people to experience, that sense of being out in the wild and feeling tense because you hear the roar of something that would chase after and eat you." The director also explained that this attention to sound was important to the experience because he thought "the sonic threat is greater than the visual threat back in the day when we would meet predators." "In a lot of ways, I think the sonic threat is greater than the visual threat back in the day when we would meet predators. When we took the kaiju sounds to record in the dam and hit it with the sound, we wanted to specifically record how those sounds bounced around the environment, into the trees, into the atmosphere. I think what that process did for us is that it took these fantastical creatures and brought them into the real world. Before you see the kaiju, you hear them, not unlike how we might have run from predators when we were monkeys." At the NYCC panel last month, sound mixer Hisafumi Takeuchi knew that they had to find the right balance because "fans are going to go to movie theaters expecting a lot of intense sounds. But as important for me is the contrast in the sound. We [could] just crank the volume up and make the whole movie very loud, [but] that would diminish the emotional journey people go through." He then told Inverse: “Fine-tuning the loudness comes down to triaging for me, where you start to subtract things that aren't necessary and aren't delivering information to the audience.” Ultimately, he wanted to make sure that the audience felt Godzilla's roar without having to cover their ears. "There’s a point where it almost distorts, but even that becomes part of the experience, because it makes you feel something." Yamazaki and his team's decisions have paid off, with Godzilla Minus Zero reviews praising its technical achievements. This includes the movie's third act, which features the intense clash between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. As a result, many pundits and industry observers expected Godzilla Minus Zero to land a Best Visual Effects nomination. Godzilla Minus One won the same award three years ago. Godzilla Minus Zero is now playing in theaters. Release Date November 6, 2026 Runtime 135 minutes Director Takashi Yamazaki Cast Ryunosuke Kamiki Koichi Shikishima Minami Hamabe Noriko Oishi Min Tanaka Kanji Murakami Hidetaka Yoshioka Kenji Noda