Godzilla Minus One Japanese Box Office Updates

[Box office numbers are being tracked and updated in this forum topic. For the latest numbers, please refer here]

Japanese Box Office (as of 11/09/2023): 1.556 Billion Yen ($10.3 Million)

Japanese Box Office Attendance (as of 11/09/2023): 970,371

11/09/2023:
Minus One raked in another 100 million yesterday, still outpacing Shin Godzilla with a total of 1.556 Billion Yen. (Roughly $10.3 Million.) It sits barely under 1 million in attendance with an estimated 970,371. This weekend will be very telling in regards to how far it will go. (Eiga Ranking News)

11/08/2023:
As of today, Godzilla Minus One has hit 1.456 Billion. (Roughly $9.65 Million) Its attendance is at an estimated 908,008. It should hit 1 Million in attendance tomorrow as I predicted, and will most certainly break 1.5 Billion. It's setting itself up to surpass 2 Billion this weekend. (Eiga Ranking News)

Original Post:
Godzilla Minus One has been released in the somewhat daring month of November--Daring in that schools have not been let out and, traditionally, the Godzilla films in recent years, and during the Millennium and Heisei series, were during seasons where school is out. That hasn't hurt it too much so far.

Godzilla Minus One has had the largest opening day of any of the Reiwa or Monsterverse movies in Japan with a massive 1.04 Billion Yen ($6.9 Million). This is the first time a Godzilla movie has broken 1 Billion in its opening weekend. (Eiga Ranking) The opening day was very frontloaded due to being a national holiday in Japan. (The Japan Times) However, Godzilla Minus One is currently the best-reviewed Godzilla film in Japan, pointing to strong legs.

Japan's most successful movie of the era was Shin Godzilla, which opened to 845,675,500 Yen ($8.2 Million) for the weekend and finished with a staggering 8.25 Billion Yen ($79.2 Million). The biggest opening before Minus One was Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which opened to 918,860,100 Yen ($8.6 Million) but only finished with 2.84 Billion ($25.8 Million).*

Minus One also had the biggest Japanese IMAX opening of all time for a live-action film. (The distinction from animation is important—animated films are the biggest box office winners in Japan each year.) Over 180,000,000 Yen ($1.2 Million) of Minus One’s opening weekend gross came from IMAX screens. (Collider)

Opening weekend attendance comes 648,577—the biggest audience draw of the Reiwa/Monsterverse era. It beat Godzilla: King of the Monsters by 6,804 tickets and Shin Godzilla by 84,245 tickets.

Additionally, Godzilla Minus One hit #8 in the worldwide box office. A Japanese Godzilla film making it into the top 10 worldwide box office is a massive win for Toho. (Comscore)

*To those confused as to why Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters opening weekends exchanged to a higher USD gross than Godzilla Minus One, it’s because the Yen is much weaker today than it was in 2016 and 2019. In 2016 Godzilla Minus One’s 1.04 Billion would’ve translated to $9.8 Million. In 2023, Shin Godzilla’s 845,675,500 would’ve been $5.7 Million and King of the Monsters would have exchanged to $6.2 Million. For comparison, the chart below gives the USD exchange of what these older movies would be in 2023.

OPENING DAY COMPARISON
1) Godzilla Minus One - 455,000,000 Yen ($3.05M in 2023)
2) Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 241,905,100 Yen ($2.2M in 2019, $1.61M in 2023)
3) Shin Godzilla - 221,064,800 Yen ($2.11M in 2016, $1.48M in 2023)
4) Godzilla '14 - 175,033,800 Yen ($1.70M in 2014, $1.17M in 2023)
5) Godzilla vs. Kong - 154,674,750 Yen ($1.4M in 2021, $1.04M in 2023)
6) Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters - 41,362,500 Yen ($382,000 in 2017, $276,900 in 2023)
7) Godzilla: The Planet Eater - 31,783,700 Yen ($270,000 in 2018, $212,778 in 2023)
8) Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle - 25,000,000 Yen ($225,000 in 2018, $167,360 in 2023)

How to gauge success based on attendance:
1 million or under - Flop
1 million+ - Disappointment
2 million+ - Minor or Commercial Success
3 million+ - Major Hit
4 million+ - Blockbuster
5 million+ - Uber-Blockbuster

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