Godzilla continues roaring onto the box office with its latest re-release. The Godzilla film franchise has always been one of the most enduring pop culture icons in cinemas ever since the King of Monsters graced our screens in 1954. The series has achieved a new level of cultural reprisal from the mainstream, with recent entries in the franchise delivering a new level of awareness it hasn’t had in decades. GKIDS, an American film and television distributor, recognized Godzilla’s films’ growing reproximation and decided to help re-release one of the franchise’s most popular motion pictures. On August 14th, GKIDS re-released Shin Godzilla in North American theaters.
Shin Godzilla was the brainchild of Hideaki Anno, one of the lead creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Shinji Higuchi, opening in Japanese cinemas in July 2016. Funimation initially gave the film a limited North American run, grossing only $1.9 million in its entire run. GKIDS re-released the film to promote the new 4K upscale of the film, which is heading to home media. Within only four days of GKIDS’ re-release, Shin Godzilla opened to $1.6 million per Deadline, which quickly rose to $2.4 million at the end of the fourth day. The film opened 11th in the North American box office weekend.
Why Did Shin Godzilla Do Better in Its Re-Release?
While the Shin Godzilla re-release in North America did make more money than its 2016 opening, inflation should be taken into consideration. It has been nearly a decade since Shin Godzilla was originally released in American theaters. The estimated inflation of $1.9 million compared to the modern worth of the United States dollar would be around $2.5 million, which is similar to Shin Godzilla‘s re-release. Nonetheless, the fact is that Shin Godzilla made more money faster in its re-release than in its original opening, surpassing its 2016 North American opening in just four days.
Shin Godzilla achieving a second lease on life at the box office is likely indicative of how much the Godzilla brand has grown in North America. When Shin Godzilla first opened in 2016, it was the first Godzilla film in nearly twelve years. The film had plenty to prove to mainstream audiences, hoping to reintroduce the iconic kaiju to a modern audience. Although the movie connected more with Japanese audiences, with its themes and setting evocative of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, Shin Godzilla was still a hit with Godzilla fans worldwide. While a Shin Godzilla sequel had stalled (and recently was brought up again by Toho), the movie did eventually lead to Godzilla Minus One.
Godzilla Minus One became a global sensation, with audiences and filmmakers showering the film with praise. Minus One would soon become the highest-grossing Godzilla film worldwide and won the Academy Award for best CGI. Oddly enough, Minus One didn’t do as well in Japan as Shin Godzilla did. Nevertheless, Minus One‘s popularity likely contributed to the higher box office totals for the Shin Godzilla re-release. Minus-One’s acclaim likely converted many people into fans of the franchise, with the Shin Godzilla re-release giving them another opportunity to watch one of the more popular Godzilla films in the franchise. Shin Godzilla will premiere its 4K streaming on HBO Max as part of a recent deal between the streamers and GKIDS.
H/T: Deadline
