In two months, Godzilla Minus One, the brand spanking new Godzilla movie to come out from Japan, is about to release theatrically in the USA. fans are waiting in anticipation as they look back at the poster over and over reminded the movie is about to release on IMAX. What better way to watch a Godzilla movie than to watch on the biggest screen in the theater. Now, it looks like Godzilla is about to get curb-stomped and pushed to the side by Beyoncé.
On December 1st, Beyoncé's concert film Renaissance will be coming to theaters on IMAX, as well. As it turns out, all available times for IMAX has been taken up by Beyoncé leaving Godzilla fans more than disappointed. The discovery was first made by Yoko Higuchi on Twitter. Higuchi is known to have worked on Toho Co.'s 2016 film, Shin Godzilla, as a production assistant. Further digging on Fandango does show Beyoncé's concert film taking up the most, if not, all of the time slots for IMAX showings while show times for Godzilla Minus One have not gone live yet.
As news develops, any chances for Godzilla Minus One showing on IMAX screens are up in the air. I am trying to contact IMAX to find out more information on whether Godzilla Minus One will or will not be on IMAX this December. Yet with how customer service goes these days, I may not hear back from them at all just like how I never heard back from Facebook.
Let's say, however, IMAX did decide Godzilla Minus One is no longer releasing on IMAX theaters. Despite that being a harsh blow, we are reminded once again of the harsh reality. The genre itself is still a niche genre. Beyoncé is more popular than Godzilla. Beyoncé's concert film is more likely to sell more tickets than a Japanese monster movie. If you look at Beyonce's Renaissance tour itself, it has gone to gross $461.3 million in concert ticket sales spanning from July to present day, according to an article from TODAY. That is around $153 million in ticket sales for each concert during the past three months she has been on tour.
On top of that, Taylor Swift's concert film The Eras Tour is projected to make $100 million on the first weekend of October 13th, according to Forbes. And that is already topping the $1 billion in concert ticket sales that ran from March 17th to August 9th. According to the same article from TODAY, Swift has announced additional tour dates that will span the rest of 2023 and 2024 including international tour dates, which is projected to make $1.4 billion by the end of this year.
When you take a look at Shin Godzilla, the last Japanese Godzilla movie to release in the USA, the movie only made a measly $1.9 million in the domestic US box office. The movie's only competition that weekend were The Accountant, Max Steel, and Kevin Hart: What Now? and Shin Godzilla got its tail handed to him by all three of them. It wasn't even a fight. Shin Godzilla was massacred.
Now, the next argument is the Monsterverse series. So far, this series has become the second most successful franchise with Marvel at the number one spot. You can argue Godzilla (2014) was a box-office success and it is according to the worldwide box office numbers. Domestically, however, it only $200 million and most of the time people went to see that movie was to watch Bryan Cranston since his show Breaking Bad had just ended that same year. Kong: Skull Island in 2017 made $168 million domestically. Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019 made $110 million domestically. Finally, Godzilla vs Kong in 2021, despite just coming out of lockdowns, made $100 million domestically.
The reason why I am only showing domestic numbers is because that is what analysts are looking at currently for Beyoncé's and Taylor Swift's upcoming concert films. They're not estimating how much Renaissance and The Eras tours will make in theaters worldwide. They're looking at domestic numbers and if analysts are saying domestic numbers are going to break records, then IMAX is going to prop up Beyoncé more than Godzilla Minus One. They know which ones are going to be popular and make them money and which ones are going to bomb and Beyoncé is a much bigger name than Godzilla in his 69 years of film history.
Whether the movie will still be coming out on IMAX is still up in the air. We could get a statement from IMAX saying that it is still happening. Or maybe something else could be planned like moving the movie's release date up to an earlier date so Godzilla Minus One can still get some IMAX showings in before Renaissance. If not, then even without IMAX, you and I know all of us are going to see Godzilla Minus One, regardless. It would just be unfortunate that an IMAX showing for this Godzilla movie would be absent.
What are your thoughts on Beyoncé invading the December release schedule? Do you think Godzilla Minus One still has a chance to get some showings on IMAX or do you think it's no longer happening? Leave a comment in the comments section of your thoughts on this subject. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, Gab, and TRUTH Social to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.