Only 1 Godzilla Movie Ever Was a Box Office Flop: What Really Happened?

Summary:

• Back in 2019, Godzilla: King of the Monsters became a big box office failure for the MonsterVerse.
• It was caused by dubious casting, marketing and releasing decisions.
• Luckily, these mistakes were fixed by the next franchise’s installments, with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire now successfully blowing up theaters.

In connection with the recent release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which premiered only on March 25 and already grossed more than it had taken to produce it, the biggest flop in the MonsterVerse franchise is now recalled after 5 years. It became its third installment, Michael Dougherty’s 2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

The movie was a great box office disappointment, grossing $387 million worldwide with a production budget between $170–200 million and, more importantly, huge marketing costs of $100–150 million. It also received the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critical score, which now equals 42% and makes this kaiju movie “rotten” in terms of this website.

Surprisingly, the story of eco-terrorists releasing King Ghidorah, who awakens other giant monsters and forces them to surface to take part in a decisive battle, was even called the best kaiju of this movie universe.

“That's most blatantly pure Godzilla fanservice,” admits Redditor @Volksgrenadier.

However, there are still fair reasons why King of the Monsters flopped.

No A-Listers

The first one is connected with the absence of big stars playing in the movie, except the young star from Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown. The focus here was switched to the monsters, disappointingly forgetting about humans.

“Nobody actually cared about Millie Bobby Brown or her family,” sarcastically states @dismal_windfall, and we can’t really disagree with it.

Too Much Marketing

Besides, the movie’s expensive marketing had a negative impact on the sequel’s box office performance, as its trailer and advertising positioned it as a serious, deep saga with a strong ecological message. People don’t really want to be taught during a movie, which is assumed to be a fun and spectacular action roller coaster, not a school lesson.

All this was already enough to harm the movie’s reception. But the third blow was the heaviest.

Bad Release Timing

“It opened a month after everyone and their mom went to see Endgame, the second weeknd of Aladdin being a huge hit and had Ma and Rocketman opening on the same day,” @michaelm1345 fairly recalls the obstacles which engraved King of the Monsters.

Thus, it’s all obviously reflected in the given film being the lowest-grossing one in the MonsterVerse, which then rose from the ashes in 2021 with the well-received sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong.

Nowadays, it is hugely supported by the success of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which is now available in theaters.