Godzilla Opens Big At The Box Office

Godzilla Opens Big At The Box Office

Six decades after the debut of Godzilla on the big screen, the giant lizard still continues to trample on the box office as sales reached around $93.2 million, based on estimates by Rentrak.

Paul Dergarabedian said the debut of the movie shattered expectations as it surpassed the $70 million projections of analysts. It became the biggest all-time opening for a monster movie, beating the $72 million opening of “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” in 1997.

The movie reached the halfway mark by Friday as it earned $38.5 million. However, it did not beat the $95 million weekend debut for 2014, which belongs to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

Godzilla attracted both adults and children. Seventy-two percent of critics also recommended the movie, based on a survey by Rotten Tomatoes. Box Office Prophets analyst Reagen Sulewski said the movie is among a limited number of blockbusters where surveys appeared to matter.

The 1998 version of the movie did not help in bringing up the ratings of the movie. Although the 1998 movie earned $136 million, it was berated by fans and critics.

The resiliency of the giant reptile has been evident ever since it initially hit the big screen in 1954. The nuclear-radiated reptile has starred in twenty-eight Japanese movies and four Hollywood films. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures were credited by Sulewski for raising the level of the movie.

Sulewski said producing a monster movie that provides enough eye candy was a masterstroke. Sulewski also gave credit to Gareth Edwards for creating a blockbuster monster movie.

However, the pronouncements of Sulewski may be too early since the movie was given a B-plus rating by moviegoers, which makes its future uncertain. However, the movie, which had a $160 million, is expected to take in profits in the next weekend.

“Neighbors” of Seth Rogen came in second to Godzilla with $26 million while “The Amazing Spider Man 2 was third with $16.8 million.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Tuesday May 20 2014, 2:33 AM EDT. Ref: USA Today. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0