Godzilla Minus One 2023 Film, now at $14.36 million at the box office, has stomped into a record — it’s now the highest grossing live-action Japanese film in North America. This follows an opening weekend that marked the biggest Stateside debut of a foreign film this year.
The monster movie is taking the US by storm, with stellar reviews and box office, after reportedly being made for a mere $15m. Does it show where Hollywood is going wrong, asks Caryn James.
Japan is already devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster.
Release date: November 3, 2023 (Japan)
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Budget: 15 million USD
Distributed by: Toho Co., Ltd.
Language: Japanese
Music by: Naoki Satō
Rating: PG-13 (Creature Violence and Action)
Genre: Sci-fi, Action, Adventure
Original Language: Japanese
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Producer: Minami Ichikawa, Kazuaki Kishida, Keiichiro Moriya, Kenji Yamada
Writer: Takashi Yamazaki
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 1, 2023 Wide
Box Office (Gross USA): $11.4M
Runtime: 2h 5m
Distributor: Toho International
Production Co: Robot Communications, Toho Company
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos
Aspect Ratio: Digital 2.39:1
View the collection: Godzilla
As Godzilla movies go, it is a terrific mix of action and character. Few monster movies, or action blockbusters in general, have received similar acclaim, with a score of 96% from critics and 98% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. In a review that reflects the consensus, the Daily Beast praised the way it balanced its “human-and-titan-sized concerns”, calling it “just about everything fans could want”.
The story begins at the end of World War Two when kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) realises that Japan is about to lose the war and refuses to kill himself, instead landing his plane on an island where aircraft are repaired. That’s one of Yamazaki’s shrewdest choices: Kōichi’s decision to live makes him sympathetic to a contemporary audience, but he himself feels like a coward. When Godzilla attacks the island, and Kōichi freezes rather than launching a missile at him, almost everyone else on the island dies, and he carries a double burden of guilt through the next few years – when Godzilla re-emerges and attacks mainland Japan itself.
Godzilla Minus One, now at $14.36 million at the box office, has stomped into a record — it’s now the highest grossing live-action Japanese film in North America. This follows an opening weekend that marked the biggest Stateside debut of a foreign film this year.
Distributor Toho International said it’s been adding screens this week due to marketplace demand. It will be playing the film by Takashi Yamazaki in 2,540 locations (up from 2,308).
Godzilla Minus One made over $11.4 million at its North America opening, beating Godzilla 2000: Millennium ($10 million) and current title-holder The Adventures of Milo & Otis (a comedy adventure with orange tabby cat Milo and pug Otis), which grossed $14.1 million in 1989 and a 1990 re-release.
