Box Office Global: ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Beats ‘Ramayana’ $63M to $55M WW

Refresh for more…Toho’s lizard had no plans to be undone by a Hindu diety in a fight at the global box office as Godzilla Minus Zero roared $63M WW over Prime Focus Studio and Sony’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend‘s $55.7M global, the bulk of that gross in India.

Ramayana had good fortune in Europe, where we hear it was No. 1 in the UK and Australia, trampling the Godzilla and Ghidorah, but the monsters reigned in Mexico in the No. 1 spot and most of Latin America (however not Brazil where a local comedy title was No. 1). Godzilla Minus Zero has been raging in Japan where since it’s Tuesday, Godzilla Day, it has collected 2.7 billion yen or $17M. There will be more updates on Godzilla Minus Zero tomorrow.

Ramayana: Part One collected the bulk of its global in India with $32M, followed by a 4-day take of $12.2M in the U.S. and $11.5M in 37 remaining foreign territories handled by Sony. A press note reads that the first part of a $420M-$500M production is the most watched movie in the world over the Diwali holiday with 11M tickets sold, but there’s nothing to support that stat, but just note it for now. Ramayana: Rise of a Legend was booked on over 10,000 screens in north of 130 countries in 17 dubbed languages.

For all the pom pom waving here on Ramayana, Lord knows how this movie makes it all its money back because by Hollywood accounting ledger standards a $55.7M global opening on a movie that costs roughly $250M is considered a flop. The one perk about Indian films in the U.S. is that the marketing budgets are very thrifty.

Prince Rama broke local market opening records for a film from India, including the United Kingdom ($3.0M), Thailand($550K), the Netherlands ($240K), and South Africa ($75K). The U.S./Canada opened to their 2nd-highest number ever with $12.2M. Other top-performing markets include the United Arab Emirates ($2.2M), Australia ($1.9M), Germany ($625K), and Nepal ($500K).

Upcoming market releases for Ramayana include Indonesia (Nov 11), Hong Kong (Nov 12), Mexico (Nov 12), Central Asia (Nov 12), Brazil (Nov 19), Italy (Nov 19), Ukraine (Nov 19), Hungary (Nov 19), Poland (Nov 20), Argentina (Nov 26), Central America (Nov 26), Colombia (Nov 26), Ecuador (Nov 26), Peru (Nov 26), and Czechia (Nov 26).

With a fight likes this between a Prince and reptiles, it’s Imax who benefits the most, collecting $29M combined from largely both movies around the globe.

Godzilla Minus Zero in Imax reaped $21.3M, repping 34% of the pic’s worldwide opening and getting a new record for the biggest Imax global opening for a Japanese film. As we old, PLFs and Imax combined counted a 74% share of the pic’s $31.6M opening. Imax alone in North America repped 40% of the weekend’s ticket sales or $12.7M at 429 screens. Overseas, Godzilla Minus Zero played on 421 screens across 64 markets or $8.6M with Japan leading the way with $4M — easily the highest Imax opening ever in the market.

“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 in on our screens,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “Japan continues to be among the biggest success stories across our global footprint, and we know this historic success will only create further opportunities for filmmaker partnership and network growth in this thriving marketing for cinema.”

The Namit Malhotra directed Ramayana saw $6M from Imax, repping 11% of the title’s global weekend, delivering the biggest global Imax opening ever for an Indian film. The Filmed for Imax release saw $2M in Indian, which was the biggest Imax opening ever in the market. There was another $1.4M in Imax box office from 32 international markets outside India. North America delivered $2.5M from 53 screens, accounting for a strong 20% of the film’s stateside bow.