Godzilla Series Japanese Box Office Attendance Numbers

G. H. (Gman)

Posting for reference.

Now that the site can include box office numbers to each film's profile I've been doing some research on behalf of the Godzilla series' Japanese box office. What it has come down to is that, unlike America, Japan is far more concerned with attendance numbers than the money movies make.

Japanese ticket prices tend to fluctuate depending on the day of the week and the type of movie playing. There a many ticket discounts offered on particular days in the month and holidays. The type of movie an attendee is paying for is also a factor: Animated movies tend to be cheaper and Hollywood movies are more expensive, etc.

Although inflation plays a part in how much money these movies make, the international exchange makes it harder to find a consistent percentage of inflation. The international exchange rate tends to fluctuate very often. This makes the international numbers on Box Office Mojo less accurate than we think.

Gross for many of the older Godzilla movies is hard to find and may be lost altogether. The only consistent numbers we have for every film are for audience attendance.

So, again, for fan reference, here are the Japanese box office numbers for the Godzilla series and other more recent, related films:

Attendance numbers - Godzilla series attendance numbers
[Films in the top 150 most attended titles in Japan highlighted in blue.]
[Hollywood films highlighted red.]

Attendance numbers - Godzilla series and related films attendance numbers.
[Films in the top 150 most attended titles in Japan highlighted in blue.]
[Related films highlighted in yellow.]
[Hollywood films highlighted red.]

George L Hays

In Godzilla Resurgence a lot of its appeal is how it has tackled modern Japanese political issues in regards to dealing with national disasters.

The other major part to the success of this new movie is also very likely down to Hideaki Anno. While the movie is co-directed along with Shinji Higuchi, who also directed the awful live-action Attack on Titan movies, Godzilla Resurgence clearly has Anno’s style writ large across the whole production.

G. H. (Gman)

Interesting theater facts to add to the information in the original post. It may help put a slightly different perspective on the numbers or at least in a different context. Stats from eiren.org:

The average amount of screens in Japan:
1950s - 6,000
1960s - 5,200
1970s - 2,500
1980s - 2,100
1990s - 1,800
2000s - 2,900
2010s - 3,300

Seating has dropped by 17.5% prior to the multiplex days.

EmptyH

I had no idea there were so few theaters. I thought there would be more.

G. H. (Gman)

Those aren't even theaters. Those are screens. You have to remember, the Japanese film industry is only a fraction of the size of Hollywood. I'm not even counting North America's independent studios. As a result, screens and theater chains are more widespread.

G. H. (Gman)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters has been added to the attendance charts.