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

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.