Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Box Office Watch

This will be updated in the same fashion as the Shin Godzilla Box Office Watch thread. Keep checking back every week.

Japanese Box Office (as of 12/04/17): 342.3 Million Yen ($3.1 Million USD) [Estimated]

Reminder: The Japanese box office works a little differently than the American box office. What seems like "low numbers" may in reality be fantastic. Additionally, the Japanese tend to put more emphasis on long term numbers and attendance, than opening weekend and yo-yoing ticket sales, due to discount weeks, holidays, the type of film being released, etc. It's important to understand that ticket sales are never consistent and even a single film's ticket prices usually fluctuate. As a result, Japan puts more emphasis on ticket admissions to measure success--So those are the numbers that typically have more meaning.

UPDATE (12/13/17): Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters has fallen out of the top 10 in its fourth weekend. Kogyotsushin either doesn't cover top 10s or World of KJ can't translate it. As a result this will likely be the final update unless more information is uncovered.

Based on its dips in percentage, projections estimate Planet of the Monsters at a $3.1 Million. Additionally, Toho Cinemas revealed the last day the movie will be playing is December 21st, making it impossible to hit even $3.5 Million. The estimated attendance sits is 169,000.

UPDATE (12/04/17):
Once again World of KJ, via Kogyotsushin, reports that Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters has fallen from #5 to #7 in its third weekend. It was originally predicted to fall to #9. The movie fell 45% from its second weekend, with just $228,000 over the third. Its current total is now $3 Million with an estimated attendance of 164,300.

Unless its legs are unusually strong in the next few weeks, it may struggle to even hit $4 Million at this point.

UPDATE (11/28/17):
World of KJ translated the box office report from Kogyotsushin--Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters faced a harsh drop to #5 in its second week, making $425,000 for Saturday and Sunday. Its total is now at $2.5 Million and it's expected to finish below $5 Million. Its current admissions are an estimated 137,000 tickets.

Again, it doesn't appear that Toho intended for this to be a major release given its number of theaters. However, anything under $10 Million is quite disappointing and the film will potentially sell the least amount of tickets in the series' history. This is pretty much a polar opposite scenario to Shin Godzilla.

Original Post (11/22/17):

From both World of KJ and Anime News Network, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters debuted at #3 in Japanese theaters this past weekend raking in a total of $1.3 million since its Friday debut. (Roughly $918,000 for Saturday and Sunday). The film sold 71,205 tickets.

That's a much, much smaller number than Shin Godzilla's #1 debut last year, premiering with $8.2 million for the three day weekend ($6.1 for Saturday and Sunday) and 412,302 in admissions. Part of the issue is that Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is not being released as a major blockbuster like Shin Godzilla. Toho only released Planet of the Monsters to 158 theaters--Less than half of Shin Godzilla's 448. (450 is generally as wide as any domestic release has in Japan.)

Fans and analysts speculate that the Planet of the Monsters' theatrical release may have been a late decision. Toho demanded the project be updated from a television series to a feature after Shin Godzilla's success. This likely led to a decision to release the film in theaters in addition to Netflix. It appears the eventual Netflix release is the main priority with the theatrical release being something of a preview or quick cash grab.

The film was beaten by IT (#1) in it's 3rd week and Shochiku's big action franchise film, High & Low 3: The Final Mission (#2) in its 2nd week.


Below is a chart of Godzilla opening numbers since 1991:


Below is a comparison of the entire Godzilla series' attendance numbers with other recent giant monster movies: