The movie “Godzilla Minus Zero,” which opened in Europe on the third and fourth of this month before arriving in the United States and Canada on the sixth, promises to turn cities into ruins and life into a series of disasters. He invades people's ordinary lives and turns them into nightmares. With its huge feet or long limbs, it smashes everything that gets in its way (or doesn't even get in its way).
This is the approach of this entire series, but the new film reveals new achievements in the field of disaster cinema in general.
The new film is in Japanese, and was directed and written by Japanese Takashi Yamazaki after a series of “Godzilla” films made by American directors. The work also includes a mostly Japanese team, which makes the film’s identity more complete and belongs to the origins of this series more than it belongs to the recent Hollywood productions.
There is no fear of its “Japaneseness” regarding its success in global markets. In fact, its revenue numbers in its first three days are no less than $26 million, a number that is more than double what “Godzilla Minus One” achieved in 2023 in its first three days, which amounted to $11 million and 400 thousand dollars. At the end of last year's Godzilla screenings, Godzilla had grossed $57 million from the 950 theaters in the United States. The new “Godzilla” is now shown in 4,003 theaters.
This success reflects that blockbuster productions, both in budget and subject matter, continue to dominate thanks to an audience hungry for their core entertainment genres, namely science fiction, fantasy, horror, comedy and animation.
A look at the top ten films at the global box office this year, and so far (that is, before the recent results of “Godzilla Minus Zero”) suggests that size is important, as well as confirming the ability of many cinematic chains to repeat their previous successes, part after part.
Ten films top the list out of 100 films whose revenues have been monitored since the beginning of this year, consisting of “Spider-Man: A Brand New Day” in first place with revenues of two billion and 521 million and 214 thousand dollars, followed by “The Odyssey” with revenues of one billion and 801 million and 608 thousand dollars.
Other films that make up the rest of the list are “Toy Story 5” (third place), “Michael” (fourth), “Super Mario Galaxy Movie” (fifth), then “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in sixth place, followed by “Project Hail Mary” in seventh place, then the Chinese film “Pegasus 3” in eighth place, and “Minions & Monsters” in ninth place. The horror film “Obsession” closes the list in tenth place, with revenues of just over $500 million.
Three of these films are animated: “Toy Story 5,” “Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” and “Minions & Monsters.” Six of them follow previous series and parts. One is a biopic (Michael), one is a comedy (The Devil Wears Prada 2), and another is a horror film (Mania), which topped the list of horror films produced this year, followed by “Resident Evil” and “Backrooms.” The total gross of these three films together (each for a different production company) is close to one billion and 222 million dollars.
As the situation is like this, it is quite strange that a film with content and an artistic vision, and based on a different historical theme, “The Odyssey,” achieved second place among the rest of the films made for entertainment only.
We have to keep in mind two points of interest: The first is that these films and others could have doubled their revenues had it not been for the film platforms that now share the results, and that ticket prices are higher than they were even ten years ago. The first point reflects the strength of cinema, which emerges victorious from the competition of home screenings despite the platforms, and the second reminds us that the higher the ticket price, the more it obscures the actual commercial value of the film in terms of the number of viewers. At the beginning of this century, five million viewers, with lower ticket prices, were enough to achieve the same success that ten million viewers achieve today.
There are other important notes that can be summarized as follows:
1- Demand for cinema halls has become less spontaneous than it was previously. A successful film is one that the mainstream audience considers a must-see event, as is the case with “The Odyssey” or most of the series mentioned above. Thus, the film must turn into a real “event” (meaning an event) worthy of acceptance by the public at today’s ticket prices.
2- Thus, it has become more difficult for a film that is submitted for screenings with a stand-alone script, even if it is financed by large companies (such as “Wuthering Heights” and “Verity”), to achieve a sufficient degree of success. Even some series that were launched with the hope of achieving results beyond their predecessors, such as Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grougu and Scream 7, achieved modest successes this year.
3- The presence of six animated films in the top ten list is an important indicator that animation films are still popular with the mainstream audience. Here it must be noted that while other films depend on one or two people entering to watch them together, the animated film doubles its ticket sales once family members (of three and above) enter to watch it.
4- The economic and political conditions in some regions of the world negatively affect the number of movie theatergoers. This is not new, but it has been a recurring reality for decades. Therefore, the more stable or stagnant security is, the higher the number of ticket buyers. It can be noted here that the Corona epidemic years ago was the only reason for the decline in demand for cinema halls around the world.
5- The big screen is one of the most important reasons for attracting a wide audience. There is no alternative to it on home screens, even if they are large sizes (from 22 to 34 inches). Imax Entertainment announced on the 5th of this month that its revenues for the third quarter of this year amounted to $174 million around the world, an increase of 69 percent over the revenues of the third quarter of last year.
In the midst of all this, independent cinema is trying to maintain its already weak positions. It has become clear, for years, that her only recourse to success lies in her performances at major festivals, which are a commercial investment that does not equate to media and marketing. If she is able to win first prizes at Cannes, Venice, or the Oscars, her level of commercial success will increase. It will not enter the list of ten or twenty, but it will continue to exist with the possible profit shares available.
