Godzilla Minus One was a huge critical and box-office success that dazzled audiences. Showing that Godzilla still had what it takes to be a phenomenon, it showed that in an era of mammoth blockbusters it doesn’t take that much to win people over. Sometimes a giant monster, a good plot about humans surviving the catastrophe, and everything that comes with it is enough. And that’s why we’re not surprised that its sequel has turned into a big box-office hit.
A movie that’s already profitable
Godzilla Minus Zero has made $63 million in its first three days in theaters. Of those, 32 million belong to the U.S. box office, where it has torn through like a real monster. This figure, impressive on its own, is even more spectacular in context: the movie cost barely $13 million. And considering that Godzilla Minus Zero managed to gross almost $114 million, it seems its sequel could very well end up surpassing it.
But it’s not the only big success of this week. At least, in box-office terms. Because Indian cinema’s breakout hit of the year, Ramayana: The Birth of a Legend, grossed $55.7 million over the same three-day period. That’s no small number. With a big asterisk. Because unlike the Japanese film, the film about Rama, the seventh incarnation of the god Vishnu, cost a staggering $400 million. Leaving it in a much more precarious position than Takashi Yamazaki’s film.
All of this opens up an interesting debate about the possibility of non-American films succeeding both in the global market and in the US market itself, always hostile toward foreign films. Whether this is a trend or an exception remains to be seen. But it seems we could be looking at an important change in the film industry in the years to come.
