The King of the Monsters didn’t disappoint in his return to the big screen, with director Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla earning $196.2 million worldwide over the weekend. This impressive box office haul was soon followed by word that a sequel is indeed in the works.
“Thomas Tull and his team did an incredible job and have delivered a new franchise,” Warner Bros. President of Domestic Distribution Dan Fellman told The Hollywood Reporter after the film’s official, opening-weekend revenue was confirmed.
The final, $93.2 million domestic tally for Godzilla gave it the second-best opening of the year so far in the U.S., only trailing Captain America: The Winter Soldier and its $95 million opening. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 previously held the second spot with its $91.6 million opening weekend in the U.S.
There’s no official word on whether Edwards will return for the sequel, though it would surprising to see the director replaced after doing what many thought impossible: successfully rebooting the Godzilla franchise in the U.S. after the notoriously disappointing 1998 film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Godzilla did particularly good business in Imax theaters, which accounted for 15-percent of the film’s total gross, as well as 3D screenings, which generated more than half of the movie’s opening-weekend revenue.
Still, it remains to be seen how Godzilla will fare in the long run, or even in the more immediate future with the next big summer movie, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, arriving in theaters this weekend.
