Godzilla Minus Zero Edges Ramayana Part One in a Historic Weekend for International Film

Most movies grabbed some cash at a crowded box office, but the headline is Godzilla Minus Zero against Ramayana Part One. Godzilla Minus Zero is the first non-English-language live-action film to debut at number one at the domestic box office since 2002. I don't love pitting the two against each other, because this is a historic weekend for international film overall. I reviewed them together and had a fabulous time with both.

Still, both films left something on the table. I think Godzilla's secrecy around its second monster and Ramayana's AI dub held them back.

Why I think Godzilla Minus Zero's North American win came from its predecessor

Japan's latest Godzilla movie outpaced India's religious fantasy film by about 7 million dollars. Ramayana Part One made plenty of its own headlines, debuting at number one in the UK and Australia. What put Godzilla Minus Zero ahead overall was the North American box office. There it opened three times bigger than the first film from director Takashi Yamazaki.

I think much of that success comes from being the sequel to an established hit. The first movie only opened to around 11 million dollars, but it had time to build an audience in theaters, on digital and on streaming. It went on to win the Oscar for best visual effects. I saw that one well after it came out. This time I saw the sequel in theaters, and in IMAX.

Godzilla Minus Zero had very broad appeal in North America. The franchise has had global fans for decades, and the Hollywood movies, whatever you think of them, have helped raise awareness. Ramayana, by contrast, played mostly to Asian Americans. There's still crossover work to be done for Indian cinema globally, particularly in North America.

Ramayana Part One beat Baahubali's debut but came in under RRR

To Ramayana's credit, this is a far bigger global debut than 2015's Baahubali: The Beginning, which opened at about 25.7 million dollars worldwide. It came in slightly under RRR's 2022 debut of 65 million.

The question for Godzilla is its second weekend. Recent anime hits, which are also non-English, opened at number one in North America. The latest Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man films then dropped 75 and 65 percent respectively in their second weekends. I think there's even more evidence that Godzilla is going to drop.

Hiding Godzilla Minus Zero's second monster may have cost it at the box office

Some fans feel the second monster is supposed to be a surprise. I thought that was ridiculous for two reasons. First, that monster appears in the opening scene, so it's not a third-act reveal. Second, it's one of the coolest things in the movie and surely a big selling point. It was my favorite part of the film.

I can see why the filmmakers and hardcore fans would think keeping such a big monster secret was cool. But I'm sure the marketing department was hitting their heads against the wall. I think it hurts the movie not to let potential audiences know about these additional monster scenes and throwdowns. A poster featuring the new monster, perhaps nodding to an iconic old poster from the franchise, would have done a lot.

I think it would have helped the movie open even bigger. It was so front-loaded at the start of the weekend that it looked like it might open around 50 million. Instead it fell off quickly and only opened where it had been projected. That front-loading is a bad sign for its long-term prospects and second weekend. Maybe people will go now that they know about the monster, but I don't know if it works that way. You always want to be as strong as possible out of the gate. Secrets should be built into a movie, but it can't be so secretive that people feel they don't need to see it.

A third Godzilla film seems likely, but Takashi Yamazaki may not direct it

The movie was inexpensive to make, and it will surely be nominated for, and perhaps win, best visual effects again. I think they're going to make a third movie. It's screaming out for one. Whether Yamazaki directs it, I'm not sure. He has two Hollywood projects in the works, one already in pre-production with its leads cast.

I'd hope he has at least one Japanese actor in a substantial role in his Hollywood movie. It would be a bad look if he didn't, and it would bother me. I'm not saying it has to be an all-Japanese cast, but he can bring one or two people with him.

I'm sure Toho wants to start its next Godzilla movie right away, but I don't think Yamazaki is available. Toho could wait, bring in an outside director, or promote the cinematographer of both films to the director's chair. That used to happen all the time in Hollywood. Barry Sonnenfeld started as a cinematographer and Raja Gosnell started as an editor before both became directors. You don't see people moving up that way anymore. I bet they make more than a trilogy.

Ramayana Part One's AI dub damaged its reviews

Ramayana's big glaring mistake is obvious: the AI dub. The performances were legitimate, but AI was used to change the actors' lips on screen to match the dubbed language. Everyone in filmmaking is still figuring out how to use AI, and I think this is not it. That version was the one first offered to US critics. I walked away, because I didn't want to watch the movie like that.

Some critics did watch it, and the Rotten Tomatoes critic score was really low. The very next week, critics were offered the original Hindi version with subtitles. I went then and had a fabulous time, as did the other critics who saw it. The score went up significantly, but the damage had been done, and it never fully recovered.

There was also a rumor that the English version was shorter, two hours 45 minutes against three hours 15 minutes, because the musical numbers had been cut. Imagine my surprise when the Hindi version still had no big musical numbers. Baahubali: The Beginning had them, and RRR won the Oscar for best original song. I loved Ramayana as it was, but in hindsight, I wonder if a Diwali release without musical numbers was a mistake.

Ramayana's 420 million dollar budget sets a high bar

Ramayana is said to be two parts, with both movies together costing 420 million dollars. That's 210 million a movie, which means each has a break-even point of 525 million. It's unlikely it's going to make that. There's some hope: the suggestion is that Diwali itself might be keeping people busy, and they may catch it in a week or so. Maybe it does very strong business for weeks to come, certainly in India.

For comparison, RRR opened slightly higher and reached 130 million in India and 165.9 million worldwide. It was made for just 72 million but still fell short of its break-even point. Perhaps Ramayana could make money through a lucrative deal with a global streamer like Netflix or Prime Video, and play not just this Diwali but for Diwalis to come, the way I watch The Ten Commandments every Easter. I thought it would have performed better. It can still hold its head high as one of the biggest movies ever made in India and one of its biggest global hits.

The Cat in the Hat starts slow while Angel Studios' Drummer Boy surprises

Warner Bros.' animated The Cat in the Hat opened pretty low. It's not as low as an animated movie can open, but it's not where it should be. It's another muted debut for David Ellison's new mega studio, which has mega debt and needs mega box office. There aren't many Warner Bros. and Paramount movies left this year, which may mean plenty of money for Dune advertising, and Ebenezer has been heavily advertised too. At least The Cat in the Hat's audience scores are strong, so it could do well on digital and streaming.

I can't believe Drummer Boy is the third film at the box office. Angel Studios' paying members, who pay to be part of its focus group, said they would love a musical Revolutionary War movie. The trailer looked like a comedy sketch to me, but people loved it, and the audience that said they would see it did. Angel made it with the Christian pop duo for KING and COUNTRY, and maybe after the midterms it was what some people needed. It has exceptional audience scores and will go to Angel's own streaming service and digital.

I've liked some recent Angel films, like Solo Mio and the animated David, which felt more mainstream. I think the studio still hasn't figured out its identity. Some people accused Angel of betraying them with Andy Serkis's Animal Farm, which they called bad and woke. Serkis has such a bad track record directing, and I can't believe he was given Gollum. Maybe Drummer Boy brings people back into the fold. The paying focus group strategy is working very well, and I wouldn't write it off just because you don't share Angel's viewpoint.

Wild Horse Nine, Jimmy and I Play Rocky test the awards race

Further down was Wild Horse Nine, which has excellent audience scores. Martin McDonagh is very good at getting Oscar nominations for his actors, and this time it's supposed to be John Malkovich. But the film isn't a sensation, and people haven't loved the trailer. I wonder if voters will chafe at being told it's his turn. The most infamous case was Jeff Bridges with Crazy Heart. Awards groups have since worked hard to modernize who votes, so I wonder if being owed an award is still a thing.

Jimmy, shockingly not an Angel Studios movie, just made the top 10 on a couple of charts. Riverdale's KJ Apa does a pretty good Jimmy Stewart impression. As a big Stewart fan, I first found the casting offensive, but in clips he does a good job. The question is whether he's doing a sketch-style impression or acting in a serious movie.

I Play Rocky faces a similar conundrum, with its lead channeling Sylvester Stallone jaw-droppingly well. I'm not sure if it's a great movie in its own right or riding Rocky's coattails, but I'm also not sure that even matters, and it certainly doesn't to audiences. It's a very good feel-good movie. But I think it matters for awards, and I don't know if Peter Farrelly, who won for Green Book, can pull that off twice. It debuted in seven theaters and did incredibly well. I think most people will wait to stream it, and it'll do exceptionally well there.

La Bola Negra, Club Kid and the Heated Rivalry holiday movie

The LGBT box office is having its own moment. La Bola Negra keeps building slowly as it expands before hitting Netflix on December 2, around when the first wave of Critics Choice and Golden Globes nominations arrives. I don't think it'll ever truly go wide. Club Kid opened in six theaters with a per-theater average of 65,000 dollars, just below La Bola Negra's 69,000 debut.

The real news is Heated Rivalry, which tested its fan base by putting episodes from a season that wrapped a year ago in theaters. It did pretty well. It also used the release to announce that seasons two and three are shooting back to back, plus an original holiday-themed movie for theaters. Filming everything at once is the smart play, since Connor Storrie's career has taken off and he might not be available for much longer.

The fine print is that apparently neither Storrie nor Hudson Williams will be in the movie, which will instead focus on Scott and Kip. I haven't watched the show, but I wonder whether fans will see it in theaters without Ilya and Shane. Netflix's Heartstopper also launched big stars, and I think it was definitely not as strong toward the end as it was originally.

Wildwood, Wicker and Clayface hold on as DC weighs Constantine

Despite the flood of new movies, holdovers had good holds. Wildwood also held well but is making far less money than the documentary You Can See Everything and was a far more expensive film to make. I'm seeing momentum for the view that its story is not so good, so I don't think it has best animated feature locked down. A little movie I think IFC is releasing might sneak in and win. Wicker, the little movie that could, though from what I'm hearing it's not so little, could earn a couple of awards nominations, especially at the Golden Globes.

Clayface had an okay third weekend, passed 100 million and has pretty much hit break-even. Still, DC is supposed to perform better. James Gunn and Peter Safran are prepping a Constantine movie, and we don't know if Keanu Reeves is in it. That project is still in development and not greenlit, and I'd be surprised if anything new for DC is greenlit before Man of Tomorrow opens.

Lanterns season two hasn't been greenlit either, which is odd since a new showrunner was hired and a writers room was at work. Maybe the finale reaction prompted a rethink, or maybe they're still trying to get Kyle Chandler back. We don't know. Peter Safran said he thinks HBO has until the end of the year to decide. Since John Stewart appears in Man of Tomorrow, waiting on its performance may make sense.

Why I think VisionQuest is struggling on Nielsen's charts

Marvel isn't doing great on streaming either, and I think Lanterns was more of a social media sensation than VisionQuest. VisionQuest did very well its first night but hasn't held up. It didn't chart its first week, and in its second week it couldn't make the overall chart. On the originals chart it's a little under 500, while Lanterns sat consistently around 525 on the acquired chart. At least it's charting; Daredevil never made any chart. Avengers: Age of Ultron was also a long time ago and is the lowest-grossing Avengers film.

Here's what I think the real problem is. VisionQuest is half a Wanda show and half an Ultron show, and the episodes were divided rather than each mixing both. Fans of each half don't like the other half, so they drift away when their character isn't on screen. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Still, the finale is a big episode, and I think it's worth tuning in.

From, The Diplomat and K-Pop Demon Hunters lead streaming

From fans should be thrilled: Netflix has found the show an audience with a strong number one. The Diplomat surged, and season five was approved after Netflix's executive shuffle. Allison Janney's recent win was a welcome, deserved surprise, though Rufus Sewell and Keri Russell have done the heavy lifting longer. I don't know if Chris Pratt is still a movie star, but he's becoming a streaming star with a new Terminal List series for Prime Video. I'm serious about a project with him, Alan Ritchson and John Cena, though I wonder if they would cancel each other out or if it would be amazing.

Nobody Wants This season three is holding on and got a season four renewal. It's inexpensive, so I think cancelling would have been a bad look, but I'd do one more season and tell them to wrap it up. Live-action Moana dominated the movies chart, and the Matthew Perry documentary hit number one on Netflix. K-Pop Demon Hunters jumped to number three, and Netflix launched a fan portal for it with new choreography videos and stop-motion content. That's a great idea, and I expect other streamers to copy it.

Looking ahead, Johnny Depp tries for a comeback with Ebenezer in a major studio picture. Do you think Johnny Depp could still open a major studio picture?