Disney's true story baseball biopic Million Dollar Arm in the rubble.
Ryan a member of my "Movie Posse" saw Godzilla early and shared his thoughts about the film last Wednesday...
The Zac Efron/Seth Rogen adult comedy "Neighbors" (My review) held up well while Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (My review) is still a hit overseas.
Pamela McClintock of THR:
Gareth Edwards' Godzilla debuted to a monstrous $93.2 million from 3,952 theaters at the North American box office, giving the iconic giant lizard a new lease on life and delivering the second-best opening of the year.
Godzilla, from Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., was so strong on Friday that some box office observers believed it could approach $98 million for the weekend. Either way, the movie's debut far exceeded expectations. Males fueled the film (58 percent), and especially younger males, a demo that is harder and harder to lure to the multiplex. Overall, 40 percent of ticket buyers were under the age of 40.
Marking the summer's second tentpole, Godzilla delivered the second-best opening of the year so far after Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million) and bested the $91.6 million opening of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 two weeks ago.
Godzilla, earning a B+ CinemaScore, did especially strong business in Imax theaters, which turned in 15 percent of the overall gross with $13.5 million from 352 locations, putting the location average at a stellar $40,057. And more than half of the movie's earnings came from 3D locations, an especially strong showing.
Pre-release tracking had suggested that Godzilla would reach $65 million in its domestic launch.
The $160 million movie also opened around the globe over the weekend; international numbers weren't immediately available.
Godzilla, intended to finally launch a Hollywood studio franchise headlined by the giant lizard, is a defining moment for Legendary Pictures, which spearheaded the reboot. Legendary financed 75 percent of Godzilla, with Warner Bros. putting up the rest of the money.
An origin story, the movie tries to remain true to the Japanese Godzilla movies made by Japan's Toho studio. Godzilla stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins and David Strathairn.
Godzilla opens 16 years after Sony unsuccessfully tried to launch its own franchise with Roland Emmerich's Godzilla starring Matthew Broderick.
The only other film opening nationwide over the weekend was Disney's Million Dollar Arm, starring Jon Hamm as a sports agent who travels to India to recruit baseball pitchers. The $25 million movie opened to a muted $10.5 million, putting it at No. 4 for the weekend behind Godzilla, Neighbors and Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Directed by Craig Gillespie from a script by Tom McCarthy, Million Dollar Arm is based on the true story of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. The family friendly movie, rated PG, also stars Bill Paxton, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Alan Arkin and Lake Bell. Couples, and not families, made up the vast majority of the audience (68 percent versus 28 percent).
Neighbors, a hit for Universal, held well in its second weekend, falling only 47 percent to $26 million for a North American cume of $91.5 million.
Sony's Amazing Spider-Man 2 fell roughly 54 percent in its third weekend, earning an estimated $16.8 million for a domestic cume of $172.1 million. Overseas, the movie grossed another $31.5 million for a foreign total of $461 million and global haul of $633.1 million. The sequel continues to soar in China, where it has grossed $78.5 million to date.
Female comedy The Other Woman rounded out the top five, grossing an estimated $6.5 million for a domestic total of $71.9 million.
Next Up: Bryan Singer's Mutant-fest "X-Men Days of Future Past" arrives. Most of “X-Men: First Class” cast team up with the original trilogy stars to battle the Sentinels--mutant-hunting robots--created by Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) in this time trippy sequel.
Counter to that Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite for a 3rd time in the comedy Blended.The story centers on a couple who, after a disastrous blind date, find themselves stuck together with their kids from a previous marriage.
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