Godzilla tramples the competition!
The King of the Monsters returned to theaters in a huge way this weekend, as GODZILLA stomped to #1 at the box office with an opening of $93.2 million!
The world's most famous atomic lizard-beast got off to a big start with $9.3 million just from Thursday late showings, on his way to the second-biggest opening of 2014 (after CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER's $95 million opening at the beginning of April).
The latest version of the iconic Toho daikaiju, from MONSTERS director Gareth Edwards, also more than doubled the opening of the Roland Emmerich GODZILLA, which opened over this same weekend in 1998 with $44 million (which would be around $63 million if it opened today). The new GODZILLA also crushed the international box office with an additional $103 million.
Reviews tended to find the human characters sketchy but appreciated the scale and deliberately paced reveal of the behemoth (it's at 72% on Rotten Tomatoes). Paying crowds gave the creature feature a 'B+' CinemaScore — the same rating as THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, which opened with $91.6 million but lost 60% of business in its second weekend.
Last week's champ NEIGHBORS shifted to second place with $25.9 million, only around 47% off its opening despite having to face a rather hefty challenger. The R-rated comedy is already nearing $150 million worldwide after ten days.
Swinging into third place was THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 with $16.8 million as the web-head hits $633 million worldwide (the pricey sequel's "success" point is passing the first movie's $752 million, although it's probably crawling in plenty of merchandising dough for Marvel).
Opening in fourth was the new sports drama MILLION DOLLAR ARM with $10.5 million. Disney's counterprogramming attempt, with bionic Jon Hamm on a trip to India trying to recruit baseball players, got a decent 'A-' CinemaScore from audiences (and a not-great 59% RT average from critics) but just couldn't attract the attention of GODZILLA and other traditional summer offerings.
Dropping to fifth was THE OTHER WOMAN with $6.3 million (the Cameron Diaz comedy has passed $150 million globally), followed by HEAVEN IS FOR REAL and the computer-animated sequel RIO 2, which has flown to $437 million worldwide (still shy of the first RIO's $484 million total).
Futher down, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER dropped to eighth places (Marvel's hero has now crossed $700 million worldwide), trailed by the low-cost "Where did that come from?" releases LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN and MOM'S NIGHT OUT.
Outside the chart, DIVERGENT is gone after two months in the Top 10, taking BRICK MANSIONS with it. In limited release, the drama THE IMMIGRANT starring Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner could only generate a $15k per-screen average, while Jon Favreau's cooking tale CHEF expanded to 72 theaters and has served up $1 million total.
Next weekend throws together almost every Marvel mutant you can think of in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, while Adam Sandler re-romances Drew Barrymore in the comedy BLENDED and the thriller COLD IN JULY opens in limited release.
How much do you think X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST will open with next weekend? VOTE HERE!
| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Godzilla | $93.2 M | NEW |
| 2 | Neighbors | $25.9 M | $91.5 M |
| 3 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | $16.8 M | $172.1 M |
| 4 | Million Dollar Arm | $10.5 M | NEW |
| 5 | The Other Woman | $6.3 M | $71.6 M |
| 6 | Rio 2 | $3.8 M | $118 M |
| 7 | Heaven Is for Real | $4.4 M | $82.2 M |
| 8 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | $3.7 M | $250.6 M |
| 9 | Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return | $1.9 M | $6.5 M |
| 10 | Mom's Night Out | $1.9 M | $7.3 M |