Toho International’s sleeper hit Godzilla Minus One grossed an estimated $853k this weekend for a cume of $50.9 million at 605 locations in week seven as arctic blasts buffet much of the nation.
The film about the giant reptilian monster passed the $50 million market Saturday, becoming the highest grossing Japanese language live action or animated film in the U.S. It’s also the fifth highest grossing non-English-language film at the U.S. box office. The pic currently on track to hit $100 million globally.
It was a weekend with some few notable expansions as Oscar-nominated hopefuls continue runs through awards season, and with another strong showing by a duo of Indian films.
Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest from A24 made an estimated $300k for the four-day weekend, for a cume of $1 million on 25 screens (up from four) in limited expansion. The riveting Holocaust drama about a Nazi commandant and his wife building a dream life for their family in a villa abutting the Auschwitz concentration camp, won the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. It’s on the Oscar short list for Best Foreign Film.
The three-day estimate is $234k. Zone of Interest recently screened at the United Nations and has been successfully reaching younger viewers with over half the audience under 35. It will roll out nationally over the next few weeks with a theatrical run throughout awards season.
A24’s Zac Efron-starring The Iron Claw by Sean Durkin grossed an estimated $2.4 million and $3 million for, respectively, the three and four-day weekend on 1,592 screens, rounding out the top ten. The under $20-million budgeted film has been in the top ten for four weeks running since release. With a cume of $29.2 million, it’s now the distributor’s sixth biggest domestic grosser ever, and has the highest Cinemascore of any A24 film.
American Fiction from Amazon MGM Studios expanded nationally to 623 runs in week five playing into awards season with an estimated $1.9 million gross for the three-day weekend and $2.3 million for the four-days. Cume of $5.64. The film saw a balance a nice balance of male (51%) and female audiences (49%) as well as older movie-goers. Some 45% was 45 and older, and 27% 55 and older. That’s reinforcing a upbeat trend seen recently with Focus Features’ The Holdovers of elusive older demos returning to cinemas.
American Fiction was 90% in the top two boxes and a with a 69% Definite Recommend. Audiences were 50% White, 11% Hispanic, 32% Black, 4% Asian, 3% other.
New openings: Two Indian films are stalking top 10 status this weekend with Telugu title Hanu Man from Nirvana Studios opening in 430 locations to a three-day debut of $2.39 million, according to Comscore. The contemporary superhero epic is directed by Prasanth Varma.
And Guntur Kaaram from Prathyangira Cinemas, also Telugu, opened in 800 locations to a $2.3 million three-day debut. The king of the underworld of fictional Guntur City falls in love with a journalist working to expose wrongdoing. Directed by Trivikram Srinivas.
Disney/Pixar’s Soul grossed $429k in 1,350 theaters over the three-days, with an estimated four-day gross of $557k. Soul debuted on Disney+ in 2020 and is one of three pandemic-era films, along with Luca and Turning Red, that Pixar is releasing theatrically for the first time this year,
New limited openings: Christian Carion’s French feel-good film Driving Madeleine took in $24k in six theaters. With a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, distributor Cohen Media Group will continue to ride the positive reviews and steer Driving Madeleine out nationally in the top 35 markets next week, with 50+ additional runs set to open.
Greenwich Entertainment’s Inshallah A Boy grossed $6k on one screen at the Film Forum in NYC. A newly widowed young mother confronts the patriarchal dictates of Sharia law in this Cannes-prize winning drama from Jordan. Adds Los Angeles and additional markets January 19. Exclusive theatrical window through March 12.