Japan’s ‘Godzilla Minus One’ Smashes Box Office Expectations

Topline

A new foreign-made movie about Godzilla’s origin story burst into American theaters with a $12.6 million gross over its first four days, marking the biggest-ever domestic premiere for a Japanese live-action film and scoring 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

This image released by Toho International shows a scene from “Godzilla Minus One.”

Associated Press

Key Facts

“Godzilla Minus One,” a prequel that explains the creation of the monster via the power of the atomic bomb in post-war Japan, far exceeded expectations and well surpassed its reported $15 million budget with a worldwide gross of $28.9 million so far, according to Box Office Mojo.

The film narrowly missed setting the record for the best-ever opening of a foreign-language live-action movie, Collider reported, and now sits in second place behind Chinese film “Hero,” which opened to $17.8 million in the U.S. in 2002, the equivalent of about $30.4 million today.

The movie beat Universal Pictures’ “Trolls Band Together” and Disney’s “Wish” at the weekend box office for a third-place spot behind “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” (which opened to $21. 8 million) and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which earned $14.5 million in its third weekend.

The film is far out-pacing the 2016 release of “Shin Godzilla”, the last Japanese movie for the monster which made only $1.9 million in its domestic debut.

Key Background

“Godzilla Minus One” is the latest film from Takashi Yamazaki, a director known for his blockbuster films and dramatic special effects. It was released in Japan on the 70th anniversary of the first-ever Godzilla film on Nov. 7, 1954, and has been praised by critics for its character building and heroics and for “paying homage to the original 1954 film while bringing it into the modern age,” one reviewer wrote. Yamazaki told GQ Japan his film worked to “recreate the overwhelming fear felt” viewers of the first Godzilla movie experienced and he aimed to make the “most frightening and deadly Godzilla in history.” The film has a 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest of any Godzilla film in the last 10 years. Two of Japan’s most iconic actors, Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe, star in the film and were reportedly cast after a producer was impressed by their performance in drama series “Ranman.”

What To Watch For

More monster movies. Warner Bros. on Sunday released the trailer for “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” The movie will be the fifth movie in the so-called MonsterVerse, which began with the 2014 “Godzilla” film, which grossed $200.6 million domestically.

Tangent

“Renaissance” and “Godzilla Minus One” opened what industry experts have called the weakest December at the box office in recent memory. This year will be the first time there isn’t a potential billion-dollar-earner on the slate of holiday releases since the pandemic began, Variety reported, and the box office will have to rely heavily on the release of DC’s “Aquaman 2” to make it through the end of the year The initial “Aquaman” movie opened to $67.8 million domestically and ultimately grossed $1.1 billion worldwide, but a string of recent DC flops and drama surrounding the cast (including Jason Moma and Amber Heard) makes the upcoming release a less predictable winner.