Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla is already shaping up to be a box office monster.
The film pulled in over $9.3 million in 3,400 theaters on it’s Thursday night debut according to The Hollywood Reporter. This is about a million shy of Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s $10.2 million, and about half a million more then The Amazing Spiderman 2’s $8.7.
Speaking of the Amazing Spiderman 2, Godzilla is expected to bury it—along with everything else—in the cinemas. Predictions for the film’s weekend haul have reached as high as $75 million reports Variety, which would make it the largest opening weekend of any monster movie. Impressive, given that the character’s 1998 outing starring Matthew Broderick was a veritable flop. If we learned anything from Man of Steel last year, however, it’s that pop culture figures this large can weather the storms of past disappointments and become successful yet.
The success of Godzilla will be a defining moment for both the genre (which was hoping to find it’s footing with Pacific Rim), and for Legendary Pictures. The ambitious studio, led by CEO Thomas Tull, has been making moves toward more autonomy. Godzilla will be there last film with Warner Brothers. They will be replacing Relativity media over at Universal as a co-financer according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hopefully the return of the “King of the Monsters” will present the company good fortune moving forward.