The titular Godzilla has more than earned his reputation for being King of the Monsters, given the series that bears his name is now 70 years old and is made up of almost 40 movies. Beginning in 1954 as a somber look at the devastation caused by nuclear weapons, the series has mutated and shifted genres/tones over the years, with Godzilla sometimes being a villain, sometimes being a hero, and sometimes being somewhere in between.
TheGodzillaseries now also includes films made in both Japan and the U.S., withthis global dominance further enforced by how successful certain entries in the series have been at the box office. There is a bias toward the more recentGodzillamovies, given how box office data is harder to come by for older movies, and wasn’t reported onnearly as thoroughly before the 1980s. Still, it’s interesting to see which ones made the most money, as well as observe how, once again, the results show that box office success doesn’t always line up with critical success. These top-earners from theGodzillaseries are ranked below, going by worldwide grosses.
10’Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack' (2001)
Box Office: $20 million
A classicGodzillafilm that had a notableinfluence on the most recent Japanese moviein the series,Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attackis a near-perfect giant monster movie. It has a more fantastical approach to telling a story featuring some familiar yet re-imagined monsters, with Godzilla being a cruel force of nature possessed by spirits of those killed in World War II, and Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon being legendary monsters summoned to put a stop to his rampage.
Still, whileGodzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attackwas a great film, it was somewhat of a more moderate success at the box office, getting a respectable $20 million against a budget of about $9 million.It wasn’t released in U.S. theaters, relying instead on home video sales in the U.S. and other territoriesto make a little more money (with such figures not taken into account when looking at the box office).
Rent on Amazon
9’Godzilla 2000' (1999)
Box Office: $27 million
Frustratingly for those who like their movie titles clean,Godzilla 2000cannot count itself among theGodzillamovies released in the 21st centuryas, despite what it’s called, it was released in 1999. It was a very mild return to form for the series after a disappointing 1998 American film (more on that in a bit), butGodzilla 2000isn’t one that many would call a series highlight necessarily.
InGodzilla 2000, the titular monster fights another called Orga, with the design for the latter being fairly cool, and the showdown between the two titans being fairly entertaining.Otherwise, this is a fairly standard outing for theGodzillaseries, and not exactly a high-earner by any means, but not a total failure either, earning $15 million in Japan andalmost $13 million outside Japan.
Watch on Max
8’Godzilla vs. Destoroyah' (1995)
Box Office: $34.5 million
Representing theGodzillaseries atits most unsettling, upsetting, and bombastic,Godzilla vs. Destoroyahwrapped up the series’ Heisei Era and could well have served as an impactful finale for the entire franchise, had none been made after 1995. The monster Godzilla’s pitted against here is perhaps themost iconic one-off opponent inGodzillahistory: Destoroyah, who was created from the effects of the Oxygen Destroyer that was used to kill the first Godzilla in the 1954 original.
Billed as a grand and sweeping send-off to Godzilla the character (even if just a temporary one), there was clearly a level of hype forGodzilla vs. Destoroyahin Japan, making it one of the highest-grossing non-AmericanGodzillamovies… though again, box office data does prioritize more recent releases. It earned an estimated $34.5 million, and holds up to this day as one of the best-everGodzillamovies for sure.
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
7’Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II' (1993)
Box Office: $36 million
It feelstempting to callGodzilla vs. Mechagodzilla IIan underrated entry in the series nowadays, as it doesn’t tend to get looked back on quite as fondly – nor as often – as various otherGodzillaclassics. Yet when one looks at the box office for this 1993 entry in the series (the first since 1975 to feature beloved foe Mechagodzilla), it’s revealed to have been one of the most successful of both the Heisei and Millennium Eras, thereby beating out a dozen other movies box office-wise, which ain’t bad.
It’s a crowd-pleasingGodzillamovie, so the handsome earnings at the box office check out. After all, it was the aforementioned return of the iconic Mechagodzilla, and marked the first appearance of the (initially) adorable Godzilla Junior. The latter went on to grow considerably in size over the next couple of films, having a role in both 1994’sGodzilla vs. SpaceGodzillaand the aforementionedGodzilla vs. Destoroyah.
Watch on Pluto TV
6’Shin Godzilla' (2016)
Box Office: $78 million
Until it was dethroned in 2023,Shin Godzillahad the distinction of being the highest-earning non-AmericanGodzillamovie at the box office and, many would say, deservedly so. This takes a fresh approach to the series and the various tropes it likes to play around with, having an engaging andeven satirical story about various high-ranking officialsstruggling greatly with containing the threat posed by the emergence of a particularly grotesque and tragic-looking monster.
More than most other films in theGodzillaseries, this time around, the monster inShin Godzillafeels like a particularly devastating and unusual natural disaster, being both terrifying and pitiful. The film definitely has a strange sense of pacing and might not wow those who prefer theirGodzillamovies to be action-packed, butShin Godzilladoes ultimately benefit from trying – and largely succeeding – to do something quite differentwithin the confines of the franchise.
Shin Godzilla
5’Godzilla Minus One' (2023)
Box Office: $107 million
A surprise hit that’s helped theGodzillaseries become more popular than ever before,Godzilla Minus Oneblew minds upon its release in 2023, and feels like one ofthe best films of this decade so far. It’s also the most successful JapaneseGodzillafilm to date, earning an impressive $39 million in Japan alone, but proving to be abreakout success in various other territories, taking its worldwide earnings to approximately $107 million.
Narratively,Godzilla Minus Onereturns to the past and then some, being set even earlier than the 1954 original and making the people of Japan true underdogs, given the emergence of the titular monster at a time when everyone was still recovering from World War II. Much has also been said about therelatively small budget ofMinus One(with the film still managing to have some very impressive effects), with its total gross being many times higher than said budget.
Godzilla Minus One
Watch in theaters
4’Godzilla' (1998)
Box office: $379 million
After gushing about some other genuinely greatGodzillamovies, it’s time to come crashing back down to Earth and acknowledge that 1998’sGodzillais one of the highest earners for the series.Detractors of this infamous American takeon the beloved Japanese monster might be dismayed to realize it made considerably more money than any Japanese film in the series did…but, as a silver lining, it is the lowest earner of the American films in the series so far.
It takes place in New York City and involves a very unusual take onGodzilla, with the monsterbeing renamed “Zilla” in the years since, and the story within this particular world never returned to (outside jokes made at Zilla’s expense in bothGodzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out AttackandGodzilla Final Wars). It was estimated at costing between $130 and $150 million, and though there’s anarrative surrounding it being a box office disappointment, it still would’ve turned a profit… just perhaps not as much as those behind the film were hoping for.
3’Godzilla: King of the Monsters' (2019)
Box office: $387.3 million
Though it was a step-up in quality compared to 1998’sGodzilla, 2019’sGodzilla: King of the Monstersis another film in the series that, though it made a good deal of money, perhaps underperformed. A gross of $387.3 million worldwide does sound pretty great at first, but with a budget estimated between $170 and $200 million, something higher wasneeded for it to turn a sizable profit.
It was the first AmericanGodzillamovie to showcase other monsters from the series’ history, withthe likes of King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodanmaking their American debuts in this film, so to speak. Those sequences inGodzilla: King of the Monstersthat showcase said monsters front-and-center can be quite enjoyable and even visually dazzling, but the rest of the film is a bit of a drag to sit through, thanks to less-than-great human-focused scenes (the talented cast assembled could only do so much, it seemed).
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Watch on Hulu
2’Godzilla vs. Kong' (2021)
Box Office: $470.1 million
Despite being released in a year whenCOVID-19 was still having an impacton the movie industry,Godzilla vs. Kongended up being enough of a success for theMonsterVerseto continue, with 2024’sGodzilla x Kong: The New Empirebeing a direct sequel. Befitting the title, it’s a movie where the two most legendary giantmonsters from cinema history – King Kong and Godzilla– clash, beating each other up and causing amazing amounts of destruction in the process.
Like 2019’sKing of the Monsters, the non-monster stuff inGodzilla vs. Kongwas by no means anything to write home about, but the smackdown between titans promised in the title ended up making the entire thing worthwhile. It cost a similar amount toKing of the Monsters,but grossed a healthy $470 million, with that amount not even taking into account revenue generated by at-home rentalsor generating sign-ups to streaming services (it was a pandemic-era release, after all).
Godzilla vs. Kong
1’Godzilla' (2014)
Box Office: $529 million
Perhaps thebest (or most well-rounded) AmericanGodzillafilm so far, 2014’sGodzillaalso happens to bethe biggest earner at the box office in the franchise’s seven-decade-long history. It’s not a perfect movie, and it seems a little too eager totease the audience with glimpses of Godzillabefore delivering some great action in the final act, but it was a huge improvement on the last AmericanGodzillamovie, which had come out 16 years earlier.
2014’sGodzillastillhad a hefty budget of $160 million, but its earnings at the worldwide box office ended up being more than triple that; it’s likely that those behind 1998’sGodzillawere hoping for similar numbers back then. Owing to this film’s success, theMonsterVerseofficially began, and it’s led to a point where, throughout the rest of the 2010s and into the 2020s,Godzillafans have been spoiled for choice with new films, given the fairly regular releases of both Japanese and American takes on the iconic character.
