Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters looks set to deliver a sizeable worldwide opening. Deadline reports that the Godzilla sequel is tracking for a $50 – $55 million opening weekend in the US & Canada and about $180 million internationally taking its projected worldwide opening weekend earnings to $230 – $235 million. The overseas territories include China and Japan where Godzilla is an icon and the movie itself should recover a lot of its investment from those countries.
With these box-office earnings, Godzilla will beat Aladdin in opening numbers. Disney’s live-action remake of the Robin Williams starrer animated classic made $213.5 million last weekend, although $91.5 million came from the domestic market. In comparison, Godzilla will have a stronger international draw as monster movies generally appeal to overseas audiences a lot more.
Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters has received enthusiastic early reactions but critics haven’t been so kind. The movie currently has a 49% Rotten rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes indicating mixed or poor reviews, with the most common criticism being the lack of a story and strong characters, who merely exist to set up the monstrous fights. It’s kind of ironic in a way, for Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla was criticized for the exact opposite reason i.e. it had a lot of human drama and too little of Godzilla. Guess with critics, you can never really be sure what will work.
That said, King of the Monsters is exciting fans who are looking forward to Hollywood finally doing a Kaiju movie right, with the big-budget special effects and all. And composer Bear McCreary’s recreation of Akira Ifukube’s iconic Godzilla theme has only compounded the excitement. Hopefully enough fans will flock into theaters to make this a resounding success. And in case you’re one of those, remember to stay back for a small treat.
Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters is set for release on May 31, 2019. Let us know if you’ll be watching it in the comments below.