‘Godzilla Minus One’ Destroys ‘Shin Godzilla’s Global Box Office Record

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https://collider.com/godzilla-minus-one-global-box-office-78-million/

‘Godzilla Minus One’ Destroys ‘Shin Godzilla’s Global Box Office Record
By
Rahul Malhotra
Published 4 days ago

Can the word-of-mouth hit pass the $100 million mark worldwide?

The Big Picture
*Godzilla Minus One surpasses its predecessor, Shin Godzilla, in global
box office earnings, indicating potential for further growth.
*The film has become the sixth-biggest live-action foreign-language
release in North America, overtaking Pan's Labyrinth.
*Godzilla Minus One is a low-budget film that has received better
reviews than other big-budget Hollywood tent-poles and is expected to be
a strong contender in awards season.

Already one of the biggest live-action foreign-language films of all
time in North America, Toho’s word-of-mouth hit, Godzilla Minus One,
passed a new milestone at the global box office on Thursday. The 37th
overall film in the long-running Godzilla franchise, and the fifth in
the series’ Reiwa era, Godzilla Minus One has now overtaken the lifetime
global haul of its predecessor, 2016’s Shin Godzilla.

With $42 million domestically and $35 million from overseas territories,
Godzilla Minus One has grossed $78 million worldwide. Shin Godzilla, on
the other hand, ended its global run with $77.9 million, with less than
$2 million of that total coming from domestic theaters. Shin Godzilla
grossed $76 million from overseas markets, which means that there’s
potential for Godzilla Minus One to show further growth, and perhaps
even pass the coveted $100 million mark globally.

The film debuted in its home country, Japan, in November, and grossed
$33 million there prior to its stateside debut. Godzilla Minus One made
history at the domestic box office in early December, when it delivered
the biggest opening weekend haul ever for a live-action Japanese film.
The movie retained spots in the top five for three weeks, before
dropping to number nine in the crowded Christmas marketplace. Godzilla
Minus One was initially expected to play for a week, but the positive
word-of-mouth encouraged Toho to expand its theater-count and extend its
domestic run.

Can the Box Office Success Translate to Awards Attention?

More recently, Godzilla Minus One overtook Guillermo del Toro’s 2006
classic, Pan’s Labyrinth, to become the sixth-biggest live-action
foreign-language release of all time at the domestic box office. Set in
postwar Japan, Godzilla Minus One harks back to the franchise’s origins
— Godzilla debuted in 1954 as an allegory for the nuclear weapons that
ended World War II. The franchise has since expanded exponentially, with
a parallel American series unfolding as we speak. Dubbed the
MonsterVerse, the series recently branched out to streaming, with the
well-reviewed Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and will continue next year
with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Unlike the MonsterVerse films, most of which cost between $150 million
and $200 million, Godzilla Minus One was produced on a reported budget
of $15 million. It was also significantly better reviewed than every
other Godzilla film, and, in fact, most big-budget Hollywood tent-poles.
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the film currently sits at a “certified
fresh” 98% score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and is
expected to be a strong contender in the awards season.