By Tim Clark
Reviews for Warner Bros. Godzilla remake are coming in fast and furious and it doesn’t look pretty for the Big G (that’s a good thing).
Variety says Godzilla director Gareth Evans “excels at blowing things up” while Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News says parts of Godzilla are “savage” and “this is how you do a Godzilla movie.” Will the onslaught of positive Godzilla reviews motivate moviegoers to push Godzilla to the #1 spot at the box office when it stomps into theaters on May 16? If we’re to believe insight generated from SAP Social Media Analytics, the answer is a roaring, fire-breathing “yes.”
To provide context for this analysis, I took an aggregate snapshot of Godzilla’s social sentiment (Facebook likes, Tweets, blog posts) and compared it against two other Hollywood blockbusters: The Amazing Spiderman 2 and Captain America: The Winter Solider. As you can see from the graph below, Godzilla’s overall social activity is trending much higher than Spiderman or Captain America during the week leading up to their releases.
According to Box Office Mojo, Captain America and Spiderman 2 currently hold the top spots for highest . opening weekend this year. Godzilla is trending much higher across the social landscape so it stands to reason the film will surpass the opening day box office and perhaps the total gross for both of these films. Another compelling reason Godzilla will trample its competitors occurs on May 11, the date of the movie’s London premiere. As the graph indicates, a clear spike in social activity occurred and the positive social sentiment in the UK tips the scales at an impressive 85.6 percent. Here are a few tweets from the premiere that underscore the wave of positive buzz Godzilla is enjoying:
So Godzilla was fantastic. Tiny gripes with the human bits but the big guy himself is breath taking. Godzilla is still King of the Monsters.
— Dean Dobbs (@deanitsomfg) May 11, 2014
Godzilla is a welcome throwback to blockbusters of 70s & early 80s, awash with awe & wonderment. The Big G brims with personality. A triumph
— Jamie Graham (@jamie_graham9) May 11, 2014
Review: GODZILLA is a modern blockbuster masterwork. Five stars. http://t.co/PX8LPWTpQa
— Little White Lies (@LWLies) May 11, 2014
Based on this social analysis, do you think Godzilla will destroy box office records this weekend? Sound off in the comments.
Top Image: Warner Brothers