Godzilla Minus One [Japanese] Box Office Watch (04/25/2024)

Japanese Box Office (as of 04/21/2024): 7.46 Billion Yen ($51.06 Million)

Japanese Box Office Attendance (as of 04/21/2024): 4.93 Million

Worldwide Box Office (as of 04/21/2024): 17.75 Billion Yen (~$119 Million)

04/25/2024:
It's weekend 25 and Godzilla Minus One is still in the Top 10! It finished at #10 this weekend. It has reached 7.46 Billion Yen ($51.06 Million). It's now the 95th highest-grossing film of all time in Japan. Attendance sits at 4.93 Million. (Toho, Kogyotsushin)

Golden Week begins next week. (A series of Japanese Holidays taking place from April 29th-May 5th.) Both Minus One and the new release Godzilla x Kong should receive a boost in numbers from the double feature they will have this coming weekend. Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color is also returning to theaters, which should increase numbers this coming week.

04/15/2024c:
Weekend 24 for Godzilla Minus One ended with it at #7. (FranSpeech) It increased its total to 7.39 Billion Yen ($49.95 Million). (EigaRanking, Kogyotsushin) It jumped from the #99 highest-grossing film in Japan to #96. (Kogyotsushin) Its attendance now sits at 4,893,231. Minus One will continue to be in Japanese theaters through early May alongside Godzilla x Kong. It's expected to see another boost during Golden Week (a series of Japanese Holidays taking place from April 27th-May 6th).

- 1st highest-grossing live-action domestic film of the Reiwa Political Era
- 1st highest-grossing domestic live-action 2023 film in Japan
- 2nd highest-grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
- 4th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 4th live-action Japanese film to pass 6 Billion Yen in 10 years.
- 5th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 8th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
- 96th highest-grossing movie in Japan.

04/15/2024b:
Weekend 23 of Godzilla Minus One and it's still in the top 10 at the box office. This weekend it finished at #8. It has hit 7.31 Billion Yen ($49.55 Million), making it Japan's 99th highest-grossing film of all time. (That includes foreign films released in Japan.) Its attendance has grown to a staggering 4.83 Million.

The question is whether or not it will be able to hit 5 Million before it gets released on Home Video in Japan, May 1st. What's more impressive is that the Yen's worth next to the dollar has plummeted to Heisei Godzilla era numbers and despite Japanese audiences being tight on money as a result, it has managed to be less the 1 Billion Yen away from Shin Godzilla's final gross.




04/15/2024a:
Weekend 22 saw Godzilla Minus One finish #7 at the Box Office having broken the 7 Billion Yen barrier with 7.13 Billion Yen ($48.1 Million). It is now only one of four live-action Japanese movies to break the 7 Billion Yen barrier in the last 10 years. It continues to be the 8th most attended Godzilla film in the series with a massive attendance of 4.70 Million. It has now been in theaters for as long as Shin Godzilla and will continue to rack up the numbers. It will break 7.2 Billion Yen tomorrow.

03/25/2024b:
Weekend 21 of Godzilla Minus One's box office return and dominance continues having only fallen to #5. It has now blown past the 6.5 Billion Yen mark in just a week to 6.83 Billion Yen ($46.55 Million). Attendance sits at a whopping 4.49 Million. (Toho, FranSpeech)

It has now officially surpassed every Monsterverse, Millennium, and Heisei Godzilla film in the franchise. It is the #1 Godzilla film just outside the all-time ranking of Japanese cinemas.

Benchmarks now include:

- 1st highest-grossing live-action domestic film of the Reiwa Political Era
- 1st highest-grossing domestic live-action 2023 film in Japan
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
- 4th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 4th live-action Japanese film to pass 6 Billion Yen in 10 years.
- 5th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 8th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
(Kogyotsushin)

03/25/2024a:
Due to its Japanese Academy & Oscar award wins, Godzilla Minus One was given a massive boost and Toho saw the need to expand it in Japanese theaters.

This result is a 20th weekend where it jumped back in the Top 10 at #4 and saw a blistering total of 6.41 Billion Yen ($43.7 Million) & an attendance of 4.20 Million! It'll have topped the attendance of every Heisei film before the week's end. It's tied with Godzilla vs. Mothra as the 9th most attended film in the series. It looks like it will surpass Godzilla vs. Mothra and Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, before the week ends!

03/13/2024:
Weekend 19, Godzilla Minus One saw a 100% increase from the prior weekend due to its Japanese Academy Awards and Oscars success. It won 8 Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and the first Oscar in the franchise's history for Visual Effects. As a result, it scored a total of 6.06 Billion Yen (~$41 Million) and 3.96 Million in attendance. (Eiga Ranking)

Next weekend's numbers will be interesting as Toho has decided to expand Minus One's number of screens. (Toho)

03/06/2024b:
In weekend 18, Godzilla Minus One made box office history again. It became the 4th live-action Japanese film to cross 6 Billion Yen since 2014. (The other three movies include Shin Godzilla, Eternal Zero [also directed by Yamazaki] and Code Blue: The Movie.)

With an official weekend finish of 6.01 Billion Yen ($40.7 Million), director Yamazaki commented on the latest benchmark, "6 billion is a huge hurdle, so I'm really happy that it was finally able to surpass it. I have realized once again how much Godzilla is loved. This record is due to a combination of various fortunes, and the fact that I was able to oversee them ... This could only have been possible thanks to everyone who supported us, so I would like to say thank you to everyone, and I think this is a record that we all made together."

It has also surpassed Godzilla (1998) in attendance, reaching 3.92 million. It is currently the 11th most attended film in the series. (Toho, Eiga Ranking)

Benchmarks now include:

- 1st highest-grossing live-action domestic film of the Reiwa Political Era
- 1st highest-grossing domestic live-action 2023 film in Japan
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
- 4th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 4th live-action Japanese film to pass 6 Billion Yen in 10 years.
- 5th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 11th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
(Kogyotsushin)

03/06/2024a:
Weekend 17 for Godzilla Minus One still sees the movie outside the top 10, but racking in some small numbers. It now sits at 5.97 Billion Yen (~$40 Million) and 3.89 Million attendance. It will cross 6 Billion Yen & surpass Godzilla's (1998) attendance this week, becoming only one of two kaiju films to ever pass 6 Billion Yen in Japan. 

02/22/2024:
The 16th weekend for Godzilla Minus One was also the first weekend it was not in the top 10 at the Japanese Box Office. However, it still has a fairly strong hold for a movie that's been in theaters for four months. It is currently at 5.91 Billion Yen ($40.46 Million). It will hopefully cross 6 Billion Yen next week. It will likely pass GINO in attendance before that though. It's current attendance is at 3.85 Million. GINO finished its run at 3.90 Million.
(Toho, Eiga Ranking)

02/16/2024:
Last weekend, Godzilla Minus One stayed in the top 10 for its 15th straight weekend. (And likely the last weekend it will be in the Top 10.) Monday was a holiday and most outlets are treating it as part of the weekend final. As a result, I will too. (Eiga)

By Monday it hit 5.85 Billion Yen ($40.05 Million) & 3.81 Million in attendance. It surpassed Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II's attendance. GINO's next. It is currently Japan's 12th most-attended Godzilla film in the franchise. (Kogyotsushin, FranSpeech Report)

- 1st highest-grossing live-action domestic film of the Reiwa Political Era.
- 1st highest-grossing domestic live-action 2023 film in Japan.
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
- 4th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 5th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 12th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
(WorldofKJ) 

02/07/2024:
For the 14th weekend Godzilla Minus One remained in the top! Finishing at #9, the film has now gross 5.73 Billion Yen ($39.2 Million). Attendance is now at 3.72 million and it looks like it will surpass Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II! (Toho, FranSpeech Report, Eiga Ranking) 

It has broken another massive box office record, grossing more than 2019’s Kingdom and making it the highest-grossing live action Japanese film of the Reiwa Era. (This means it is Japan’s highest grossing live action film of the last five years.)(Eiga Ranking, WorldofKJ)

It’s on pace to be in the top 10 for the 15th weekend, but will be losing a lot of 4D theaters this weekend as well.

- 1st highest-grossing live action domestic film of the Reiwa Political Era.
- 1st highest-grossing domestic live-action 2023 film in Japan.
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
- 4th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 5th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 13th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
(WorldofKJ) 

01/31/2024b:
This past weekend, Godzilla Minus One beat a Shin Godzilla record. Hitting #10 at the box office for the weekend, Minus One remained in the Top 10 for its 13th weekend in a row! Shin Godzilla fell out of the box office after weekend 12. (FranSpeech Report)

It hit 5.59 Billion Yen (~$38 Million) and an attendance of 3.63 Million! It became the highest grossing live action Japanese film of 2023 and #5 at the 2023 Japanese Box Office overall! (Toho)
- 5th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 4th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 1st highest-grossing domestic live-action 2023 film in Japan.
- 13th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
(WorldofKJ)

01/31/2024a:
Late update, but weekend 12 ended with Godzilla Minus One and Minus One/Minus Color exceeding the prior weekend's numbers and remaining in the top 10--tieing Shin Godzilla for being in the top 10 for 12 weeks in a row.

Minus One ended with 5.45 Billion Yen (~$37.5 Million) for the weekend and an attendance of 3.54 Million.

01/14/2024:
With the release of Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, the film has continued to stay in the top 10 for an 11th weekend. It has hit 5.32 Billion Yen (~$36.9 Million) and with an attendance of 3.46 million, it has surpassed Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla's to become the 13th most attended in the series. (Toho)

It's on its way to surpassing Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning to become the 6th highest grossing film in Japan. As far as attendance goes, the next Godzilla movie on the chopping block is Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II, though hitting 3.80 million might be a stretch. Minus One is looking at a 5.5-5.7 Billion Yen finish, having surpassed the original projection of 5.0 Billion Yen.

01/10/2024:
Godzilla Minus One's 10th weekend sees it still in the top 10. It's total gross after weekend 10 is 5.14 Billion Yen. Its attendance is 3.34 million--It should pass Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla's attendance before the end of the week. (Eiga Ranking) The winter break boost is very much over, but the black and white version, -0.1/C, should provide a minor boost in awareness, especially given 4DX showings are very popular.

It is currently the second film in the franchise to break 5 Billion Yen. And having surpassed The Return of Godzilla attendance, is now the 14th most attended film in the franchise.

It's also worth noting Box Office Mojo has stopped reporting the Japanese gross. They last reported on Godzilla Minus One's Japanese numbers Christmas weekend and are currently $3.1 million behind the Japanese total, based on current exchange rate numbers.

12/31/2023c:
The 9th weekend for Godzilla Minus One saw a boost in the box office due to winter break. The gross shot to 4.86 Billion Yen (~34.5 Million) crossing an estimated attendance of 3.16 Million. (Eiga Ranking) It should pass The Return of Godzilla to become the 14th most attended film in the series soon. Despite nearly falling out of the top 10 last week, it went from #9 to #6! (Eiga Ranking)
- 7th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 5th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 15th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
(WorldofKJ)

12/31/2023b:
The 8th weekend for Godzilla Minus One saw it hit a new milestone! At #9 at the box office, it hit 4.61 Billion Yen (~$32.7 Million). More importantly it became the 15th film in the franchise to cross 3.00 Million in attendance! It has now surpassed Shin Ultraman's final attendance of 2.99 Million! Currently it is the 2nd highest grossing and attended giant monster/kaiju/toku related film in the last decade! (Toho)
- 8th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 6th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 15th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
- 2nd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
(WorldofKJ)

12/31/2023a:
In its 7th weekend Godzilla Minus One hit 4.42 Billion Yen (~$31 Million), surpassing Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah's attendance with 2.87 Million. In its 7th weekend it crossed. (Toho)
- 9th highest-grossing 2023 film in Japan.
- 7th highest-grossing domestic 2023 film in Japan.
- 15th most attended Godzilla movie in Japan.
- 3rd highest grossing/attended kaiju film in last 13 years.
(WorldofKJ)

12/11/2023:
The 6th weekend of Godzilla Minus One sees a solid hold in Japan. Though dropping under #2, it surpassed 4 Billion Yen with 4.15 Billion (~$28 Million). Its attendance is now at 2.70 Million, tied with Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Many still seem to believe it will finish with 5 Billion which should, estimate a higher attendance than The Return of Godzilla. It's well on its way to surpassing Shin Ultraman's final gross and attendance. (Toho, Eiga Ranking)

Here are comparisons to where other movies were at in their sixth weekend.

6th Weekend Comparisons:
Shin Godzilla - 6.02 Billion Yen/$58.4 Million/3.74M Attendance
Godzilla Minus One - 4.15 Billion Yen/$28.5 Million/2.70M Attendance
Shin Ultraman - 3.84 Billion Yen/$29.7 Million/2.57M Attendance
Godzilla 2014 - 2.99 Billion Yen/$29.3 Million/2.09M Attendance
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 2.70 Billion Yen/$25.6 Million/1.91M Attendance
Godzilla vs. Kong - 1.81 Billion Yen/$16.5 Million/1.20M Attendance

In America, it has the smallest weekend drop of the year (28%), accumulating a total of $25.3 Million for a worldwide total of 7.8 Billion Yen (~$53.5 Million). (Box Office Mojo)

Charts Updated!

12/05/2023:
Godzilla Minus One finished its 5th weekend again at #2 with 3.82 Billion Yen (~$25.9 Million). Its attendance as of the weekend sits at 2.48 Million--tied with Son of Godzilla. It has now officially beaten the attendance totals of every Champion Festival Showa movie, and every Millennium Series and Monsterverse movie.

It's expected to surpass 4 Billion Yen this coming weekend.

It opened in the U.S. to $11 Million (roughly 1.6 Billion Yen). It broke U.S. records, becoming the second-biggest opening for a foreign film and the #1 highest opening for a Japanese film in the U.S. Its worldwide gross after the weekend sits at 5.42 Billion Yen (~$36.8 Million.) (Godzilla Minus One Official Twitter, Collider)

Charts updated.

12/04/2023
Late report covering weekend #4: It dropped to #2 for the first time with 3.458 Billion Yen. (~$23.5 Million) I estimated attendance was 2.23 Million. With that it tied the total attendance of the 2014 movie, surpassing the rest of the Monsterverse movies, the Champion Festival Showa movies and all of the Millennium movies--save for GMK.

Its gross after 24 days make it the 3rd h giant monster/kaiju-tokusatsu-related film of the last 11 years and climbing.

11/22/2023:
Godzilla Minus One retained its #1 spot for its third weekend in a row at the box office. Its total gross after Sunday was 2.85 Billion Yen (~$19 Million). Attendance reached 1,840,354. It is expected to surpass 3.00 Billion Yen before the end of the week. (Eiga Ranking, Toho)

Third weekend comparisons:
Shin Godzilla:
3.36 Billion Yen/$32.6 Million/>2.59M attendance
Godzilla Minus One:
2.85 Billion Yen/$18.9 Million/~1.84M attendance
Shin Ultraman:
2.69 Billion Yen/$21.2 Million/1.77M attendance
Godzilla: King of the Monsters:
2.21 Billion Yen/$20.5 Million/1.51M attendance
Godzilla 2014:
2.05 Billion Yen/$20.1 Million/1.42M attendance
Godzilla vs. Kong:
1.4 Billion Yen/$12.9 Million/0.90M attendance

Charts now include how many days each movie was tracked in theaters.

11/16/2023:
Weekend actuals for Godzilla Minus One were updated and the numbers are even higher than originally estimated. The actual total after last weekend now sits at 2.112 Billion Yen ($14.1 Million). The attendance number sits at 1,352,125. As of last weekend Godzilla Minus One only trails Shin Godzilla's second weekend by 38 Million Yen. (Kogyotsushin, SciFi Japan, Yahoo! Japan)

Minus One's 2nd weekend trails Shin Kamen Rider's final gross by 220,000 Yen and its attendance by less than 240,000 tickets. 

(As of Wednesday, 11/16/2023, Minus One has already passed Shin Kamen Rider's gross and its attendance sits at 1.51 million--which will most assuredly pass Shin Kamen Rider's attendance this weekend. However, the updated charts will only reflect this past weekend.) (Eiga Ranking)

Minus One will likely surpass 2 million in attendance sometime next week. Charts have been updated to reflect the second weekend actuals.

11/12/2023:
Godzilla Minus One wrapped the second weekend with an estimated 2.096 Billion Yen. ($13.3 Million) Lagging only ¥0.054 behind Shin Godzilla after 10 days of release. It has already surpassed the final gross of Godzilla vs. Kong and Kong: Skull Island. It should pass Shin Kamen Rider's final gross sometime next week.

Its estimated attendance sits at 1,307,132. It has already beaten the final attendance of Millennium flops, Godzilla: Final Wars and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. It has additionally topped the final attendance of Godzilla vs. Kong.

Its Saturday/Sunday drop was only around 30%. Charts have been updated. Actuals later. (Eiga Ranking News)

11/09/2023:
Minus One raked in another 100 million yesterday, still outpacing Shin Godzilla with a total of 1.556 Billion Yen. (Roughly $10.3 Million.) It sits barely under 1 million in attendance with an estimated 970,371. This weekend will be very telling in regards to how far it will go. (Eiga Ranking News)

11/08/2023:
As of today, Godzilla Minus One has hit 1.456 Billion. (Roughly $9.65 Million) Its attendance is at an estimated 908,008. It should hit 1 Million in attendance tomorrow as I predicted, and will most certainly break 1.5 Billion. It's setting itself up to surpass 2 Billion this weekend. (Eiga Ranking News)

Original Post:
Godzilla Minus One has been released in the somewhat daring month of November--Daring in that schools have not been let out and, traditionally, the Godzilla films in recent years, and during the Millennium and Heisei series, were during seasons where school is out. That hasn't hurt it too much so far.

Godzilla Minus One has had the largest opening day of any of the Reiwa or Monsterverse movies in Japan with a massive 1.04 Billion Yen ($6.9 Million). This is the first time a Godzilla movie has broken 1 Billion in its opening weekend. (Eiga Ranking) The opening day was very frontloaded due to being a national holiday in Japan. (The Japan Times) However, Godzilla Minus One is currently the best-reviewed Godzilla film in Japan, pointing to strong legs.

Japan's most successful movie of the era was Shin Godzilla, which opened to 845,675,500 Yen ($8.2 Million) for the weekend and finished with a staggering 8.25 Billion Yen ($79.2 Million). The biggest opening before Minus One was Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which opened to 918,860,100 Yen ($8.6 Million) but only finished with 2.84 Billion ($25.8 Million).*

Minus One also had the biggest Japanese IMAX opening of all time for a live-action film. (The distinction from animation is important—animated films are the biggest box office winners in Japan each year.) Over 180,000,000 Yen ($1.2 Million) of Minus One’s opening weekend gross came from IMAX screens. (Collider)

Opening weekend attendance comes 648,577—the biggest audience draw of the Reiwa/Monsterverse era. It beat Godzilla: King of the Monsters by 6,804 tickets and Shin Godzilla by 84,245 tickets.

Additionally, Godzilla Minus One hit #8 in the worldwide box office. A Japanese Godzilla film making it into the top 10 worldwide box office is a massive win for Toho. (Comscore)

*To those confused as to why Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters opening weekends exchanged to a higher USD gross than Godzilla Minus One, it’s because the Yen is much weaker today than it was in 2016 and 2019. In 2016 Godzilla Minus One’s 1.04 Billion would’ve translated to $9.8 Million. In 2023, Shin Godzilla’s 845,675,500 would’ve been $5.7 Million and King of the Monsters would have exchanged to $6.2 Million. For comparison, the chart below gives the USD exchange of what these older movies would be in 2023.

OPENING DAY COMPARISON
1) Godzilla Minus One - 455,000,000 Yen ($3.05M in 2023)
2) Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 241,905,100 Yen ($2.2M in 2019, $1.61M in 2023)
3) Shin Godzilla - 221,064,800 Yen ($2.11M in 2016, $1.48M in 2023)
4) Godzilla '14 - 175,033,800 Yen ($1.70M in 2014, $1.17M in 2023)
5) Godzilla vs. Kong - 154,674,750 Yen ($1.4M in 2021, $1.04M in 2023)
6) Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters - 41,362,500 Yen ($382,000 in 2017, $276,900 in 2023)
7) Godzilla: The Planet Eater - 31,783,700 Yen ($270,000 in 2018, $212,778 in 2023)
8) Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle - 25,000,000 Yen ($225,000 in 2018, $167,360 in 2023)

How to gauge success based on attendance:
1 million or under - Flop
1 million+ - Disappointment
2 million+ - Minor or Commercial Success
3 million+ - Major Hit
4 million+ - Blockbuster
5 million+ - Uber-Blockbuster