Why Godzilla Minus One's Box Office Makes It Such A Surprising Hit

The weekend may belong to Beyoncé, but the King of the Monsters made his presence known in a big way. "Godzilla Minus One" stomped into theaters over the weekend, and partially thanks to downright rapturous word of mouth for Toho's latest kaiju flick, the film far exceeded expectations. So much so that it trailed only "Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé" ($21 million) and "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" ($14.5 million) to take the number three spot on the charts.

Director Takashi Yamazaki's new "Godzilla" film opened to $11 million domestically, per The Numbers. That was well beyond what analysts had been predicting heading into the weekend, which is good news all around. The movie had already opened overseas and has since amassed $23 million from international markets. Its total now stands at $34 million worldwide. Not bad for a movie with a $15 million price tag (before marketing). Granted, production in Japan is wildly different than it is in Hollywood, which largely allows for a movie of this scale to be produced for such a small figure. Be that as it may, the financials are what they are, and it's going to be a huge winner for Toho.

To that end, "Minus One" has been met with near-universal praise from critics and audiences alike. It boasts an A CinemaScore to go along with a stellar 98% approval rating across the board on Rotten Tomatoes. You can read /Film's 8 out 10 review of the film right here. This all suggests good word-of-mouth, which could lead to strong holds in the coming weeks. Given that the post-Thanksgiving frame is typically one of the quietest weekends of the year at the box office, this was a welcome surprise for the industry. It's an unexpected hit, one that did particularly well on premium format screens like IMAX.