Godzilla Minus Zero Leads Global Box Office with $63M, Ahead of Ramayana

Toho's latest Godzilla film topped the worldwide box office this weekend, grossing $63 million, while Sony's Ramayana: Rise of a Legend earned $55.7 million, most of which came from India. The Japanese monster movie also performed strongly in Mexico and much of Latin America, and recorded a $17 million opening in Japan, where it was released on "Godzilla Day" and earned 2.7 billion yen.

Ramayana collected $32 million in India, $12.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $11.5 million across 37 other territories. The film opened on more than 10,000 screens in over 130 countries and was shown in 17 dubbed languages. It set local opening records for an Indian film in several markets, including the United Kingdom ($3 million), Thailand ($550,000), the Netherlands ($240,000) and South Africa ($75,000).

IMAX reported that its screens contributed $29 million to the combined opening of the two titles. Godzilla Minus Zero generated $21.3 million in IMAX venues, representing 34 % of its worldwide debut and setting a record for the largest IMAX opening for a Japanese film. In North America, IMAX accounted for $12.7 million of the weekend’s ticket sales across 429 screens.

"With Godzilla Minus Zero, Takashi Yamazaki and our friends at Toho have delivered a tremendous feat of filmmaking with arresting visuals that somehow top its predecessor; we are proud to call this the first filmed-for-IMAX release from Japan and delighted fans are overwhelmingly choosing to experience it on our screens," said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX.

The two releases will continue to roll out in additional markets through late November, including Indonesia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Czech Republic.