Box Office Discussion

[Cookie]

After Monday, GODZILLA is at 175.5.... Might hit 180 before the weekend, but will probably be something like 179.2. Add another 6m for the weekend, and we'll be at around 185 after the weekend.

Add another 15-20 overseas and were looking at at GLOBAL total of 400-405 after the weekend.

I think its safe to assume we'll hit 500 with China and Japan still left to open.

[Hybrid Gojira]

I think it will do more like 550 when it's all said and done - I guess we shall see.

[Gojiraknight]

So why the drop-off after the huge opening weekend and even more impressive opening day?

My theory:

Firstly, I think this is part of an overall underwhelming May (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3852&p=.htm).

The month was bookmarked by the #5 and #7 entries in two strong, but tired, franchises (Spider-Man and X-Men). No matter how popular this characters are, this many movies in a 14 year time span leads to fatigue.

Meanwhile, from a mainstream moviegoers perspective, the bright star of potential that was "Godzilla" turned out to be more traditional action-faire. Yes it was good. Yes movie-goers liked it, mostly. But it didn't live up to the promise of the trailers and deliver a truly unexpected, fresh movie-going experience. We were expecting "The Dark Knight" and got "Thor". All of the innovative ideas (Halo jump, "Not tests...they were trying to kill him", Cranston) were in the trailer, and the movie didn't offer anything new to what we'd already seen for free.

It was really a traditional superhero movie, which I don't think audiences were dying to see. I think they wanted to see death and destruction, the world coming to an end, fire and brimstone, and mankind's struggle to survive. That song and dance.

Note, that doesn't make "Godzilla" a bad movie. Just not a movie that's going to set the summer ablaze or sprint past $200 million. As one reviewer put it, this is the Godzilla movie America should've made in the 90s. Today it just lacked that added bit of uniqueness to truly be a mega-blockbuster.

What say you?

[daikaijusaurus]

[Cookie]

[Godzilla21]

[HannibalBarca]

Agreed. A lot of praise was given to Godzilla's marketing in the run-up to the movie's release for not "giving everything away." They were referring, of course, to the fact that the movie was careful about not showing too much of the monsters, the action, etc. Little did we know that the trailers gave away a shocking amount of any interesting sparks the movie would have from a narrative perspective, leaving us to discover that the rest of the film was pretty generic fare.

[king_ghidorah]

[HannibalBarca]

It's a double-edged sword though. Without the marketing being as good as it was, we would never have gotten a $93m domestic opening weekend. The marketing just happened to be selling us a different movie.

[jellydonut25]

I don't know if audiences wanted doom and gloom and despair and sorrow...I mean, the opening week turnout suggests they did, but audiences haven't turned out big for apocalyptic movies in recent years.

Granted, they've all been rather terrible, but I wonder how it would have fared had it been darker.

[goji4ever]

I think the film did a solid job of staying within the range of the tone the trailers suggested....
the tone and the characterization of godzilla pretty much satisfied the audience, the slow burn and lack of monster action is what truly annoyed them...a battle scene in the early parts of the movie would have made a huge difference...whether it be Mutos beating back godzilla or a big military vs monsters confrontation....people expected more bang for their buck..the tone was perfect even if it didnt match the promise of the trailer.

[Godzilla21]

[william newell]

You guys wanna talk about a mis-leading ad campain...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6jEg94TC5M

I remember being taken in by this after seeing the commercial on T.V.. Boy, was I disappointed when I saw it in the theater. Really fired my dislike for this film for quite some time...As to Legendzilla, I really enjoyed the film(seen it 4 times so far and it gets better each time)but I do agree that the advertising(and pre-release interviews)were a little misleading. The best analogy I can come up with is that the trailers promised prime rib, but the film turned out to be a double hamburger. Now, I love a double hamburger as much as the next guy, but when my taste bud's are expecting steak...well, you get the idea.

[Cookie]

I didn't expect Godzilla to.be do "good" in the movie. I loved the hell out of it, and picked up on the Mutos being the real threat, but it ws a surprise nonetheless.

Anyway, we'll finally hit the magic number of 380 this weekend, which is when the profit will start rolling in. With big markets yet to open, and merchandise sales, and future home video sales, GODZILLA will turn in a decent profit for WB and LP.

please note that in China, there's some kinda weird law that movie companies, in this case LP and WB, only take 25% of the gross. So if it makes 80m there, LP and WB will only see 20m of it. If anyone knows more about this, please explain more! Thanks.

Its gonna be similar in Japan, as TOHO will take a majority of the gross. Godzilla will still take a healthy profit when its all said and done.

[MouthForWar]

[Gwangi]

With all of the spoilers that were leaking and which many of you were constantly consuming, it would not surprise me that perhaps the advertisement may have been done a little differently to elevate the spoiler problem (and that is just my guess, not saying its a fact). Frankly, I was relieved it wasn't this "dark", "apocalyptic" or even an R rated flick some were salivating.

[Benjamin Haines]

[goji4ever]

fewer tickets than in '98 probably... but hopefully like Batman Begins (a film which didnt exactly smash the box office) this film has set a foundation from which the sequel can be an even greater success...

Goji '98 failed to establish a foothold for the franchise perhaps its greatest failure in the eyes of those who free up the cash..





I somewhat also disagree with the idea that Godzilla and Mutos should switch roles/screentime... Godzilla while not exactly an absolute in this film does have most of his info dropped in through economical exposition as most of the audience already know of him. By switching roles and limiting the exposure of the Mutos we dont give them characterization or a reason for people to care when godzilla fights them (not a good idea specially with new creatures).

[Cookie]

Like THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN, WORLD WAR Z is quickly catching up to GODZILLA in the dailys. I doubt it'll hit 200 at this point. It depends on the drop this weekend. If it can hold on for a 50% or less drop, we'll have a shot.

[Cookie]

Comparing 98 ticket sales to 2014 ticket sales is crazy
.. The 98 film would not have sold the same amount of tickets if it was released today.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Jorzilla]

There are major set pieces in each act of the film, however they are structured like this:

1. Male MUTO escapes from Janjira.

2. Honolulu airpot. Male MUTO and Godzilla.

3. Female MUTO attacks the nuclear train.

4. Final fight in San Francisco featuring Male MUTO, Female MUTO and Godzilla.

Unfortunately that meant that a lot of the focus was on the MUTOs, not Godzilla. This is not necessarily problem, except for one primary issue that I have with this film: Despite the marketing and lead-up hype, they essentially neutered the negative aspects of Godzilla to make him more sympathetic. Yes, I get that there is implied deaths and destruction by Godzilla, but the film is edited in a way to either show these as collateral damage (Tsunami), or they are not shown at all (like the fact that people were in the ruins around Godzilla when he wakes up). Just off the top of my head:

1. Human death: Onscreen deaths directly attributed to MUTO, including stompings, body bags, chomping, etc.

2. Nuclear element: MUTOs are attracted to the nukes, and Godzilla is attracted to MUTOs. Every single nuclear element in the film is related to MUTOs. However, since they consume that nuclear fall-out, no one is actually AFFECTED by this radiation. Hell, maybe it would have been preferable to keep a MUTO spore and send it to Chernobyl?

3. Military conflict: Godzilla doesn't kill or destroy any piece of military technology except for the destroyer that breaks on his back in San Francisco, in terms of destruction shown on screen. MUTOs on the other hand are shown taking fighter jets out, troops on the ground, tanks rubble, etc.

4. Destruction: Aside from the Golden Gate Bridge and quick shots in Honolulu, I can't think of any scenes that show Godzilla in any major destruction sequences outside of collateral damage due to fighting. Both the Male and Femal MUTO are shown tearing up San Francisco.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Yep. Even though Godzilla doesn't consciously act in humanity's best interest in this movie, Edwards made sure to portray him as the monster that just happens to cause death and destruction by virtue of being giant, as opposed to the MUTOs which attack people, vehicles, and structures. Making Godzilla actively destructive would have undermined Ken Watanabe's character and would have sent viewers mixed messages about whether they're supposed to be rooting for or against Godzilla (a la GINO).

Personally, I'm delighted that Godzilla ended up having a heroic role in this story. We've never had a series of Godzilla films that position him as the hero from the outset without showing his destructive side yet. It allows for a ton of creative potential with future entries.

[Jorzilla]

I understand the decision, but I think you can make a more interesting character if he's approached from a lesser of two evils approach. There's no reason to expect this Godzilla to be necessarily GOOD, but the way the movie is structured sure makes him look that way.

[walshiam]

I still think it's cool how Godzilla displayed heroic deeds by default at least twice. Unintentionally he blocked incoming missiles approaching the Golden Gate Bridge full of people, particularly children trapped in traffic on a school bus and the soldier Brody who was sure to be killed otherwise by the female MUTO . Another scene in which Brody distracts the parent MUTOS by killing their offspring long enough for Godzilla to recoup from a beatdown was another good twist. And also the moment Brody and Godzilla had a brief moment of eye contact spoke volumes that the Big G is not just a monster. It's moments like these that bring to mind memorable Godzilla moments such as his attack on the Kilaaks at the end of "Destroy All Monsters" and using the electrodes provided by the Japanese military to do in Hedorah. As long as the writers realize that the monster's wrath does not exclude mankind, I thinks the approach that there are worse things out there than Godzilla is a good one.