Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters had a rough monster battle at the box office but it appears it has managed to take in a few decent bucks. The Godzilla sequel and the third installment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse franchise is estimated to earn $4.3 million this weekend and consequently pass the $100 million mark at the North American box office. With these updated figures, Godzilla 2 has made $103 million in the US and nearly $350 million worldwide against a $170 million production budget.
It was previously estimated that Godzilla 2 would need to make somewhere between $400 – $500 million to break even. Those hopes were dashed when it opened to less than expected numbers. With the onslaught of upcoming releases including Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Lion King, it looks like Godzilla 2 may not be able to touch $400 million globally. That said, the final tally should help Legendary minimize its losses. It looks like Godzilla ended up being the victim of poor Rotten Tomatoes scores and a general apathy towards monster movies; fan response to the movie was rather decent, including ours.
A crucial component of the movie will be the inevitable Blu-Ray release. While watching Godzilla and Ghidorah square-off in 1080p or a 4K TV may not be as epic as watching it in glorious IMAX, movies of this scale tend to do quite well in the home media market. It’s possible Godzilla 2 could pull off an additional $50 – $60 million from DVD and Blu-Ray sales alone over the course of several months, eventually helping Legendary and Warner Bros. break even with the movie and recoup their costs.
Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters is playing in limited theaters now. Watch it while you still can and let us know if you enjoyed the movie in the comments below.