Mainichi Shimbun: 'Godzilla' opens with smashing $93.2 million

The Japanese media are beginning to take notice of the box office success of Godzilla over the weekend.

The Mainichi Shimbun posted:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Godzilla" has smashed its way to the top of the box office.
The 3-D monster movie from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures had the second-largest debut of the year this weekend with $93.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. 

"Godzilla" trails Disney-Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which opened with $95 million in April, and sits just above "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which debuted with $91.6 million this month. 

Paying homage to the 60-year-old franchise in tone and spectacle, the latest iteration continues the legend of the 1954 Japanese original - Ishiro Honda's "Gojira." Reviews of the film were positive - it earned a "fresh" rating from review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, with 72 percent of film critics responding positively.

While the $93.2 million box office take in the U.S. fell short of the $97 million Entertainment Weekly reported that it was on track to make, the amount it did make is still quite an achievement. Especially for a monster movie.

Globally, they reported:

It's also the year's biggest opening for Imax globally. It generated $103 million and 14.35 million admissions from 16,946 screens in 64 markets outside the U.S. and Canada.

To read more, go here.