Oh hell yeah! Oh hell yeah! Oh hell yeah!
It was projected at 73 million.
Now look:
Friday AM Update: Godzilla earned a gigantic $9.3 million from late Thursday shows. For the weekend, it could wind up over $100 million... > FULL STORY
Thursday Update: Playing at around 3,400 locations, Godzilla earned a phenomenal $9.3 million from late Thursday shows. That's one of the best late-night openings ever for a non-sequel.
Compared to recent releases, Godzilla actually performed better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($8.7 million), and was only a bit behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($10.2 million). It also did over twice as much business as World War Z ($3.6 million), which had the advantage of opening when school was out.
This debut guarantees at least $70 million for Godzilla. If it plays like Spider-Man 2, it will have the biggest opening of the year with around $98 million. It could go even higher, though: using Thor: The Dark World or 300: Rise of An Empire as comparable titles puts the movie above $110 million for the weekend.
Of course, those are all sequels, which should theoretically be more front-loaded. At this point, the sky is the limit for Godzilla.