'Godzilla' Is China's Biggest Opening Day Of 2014 With $10.9 Million

“Godzilla” has already made short work of the American box office, and now the monster is crushing China’s as well. Legendary Pictures’ reboot of the classic monster movie opened in China on Friday with a $10.9 million debut, the country’s biggest opening day of the year and Warner Bros.’ biggest-ever opening in China, Deadline reports.

“Godzilla” and its massive Chinese opening were boosted by a big push into theaters. The film opened on nearly half of China’s 18,195 screens. With that many screens in play, it’s not hard to see why “Godzilla” rocked the box office.

By contrast, “Pacific Rim,” 2013’s monsters-versus-robots film that drew plenty of comparisons to the King of the Monsters, opened in China with $45.2 million and went on to gross $112 million. Expect “Godzilla” to make more than “Pacific Rim” and possibly take down the biggest Chinese film of the year, “The Monkey King,” with its $167.8 million gross.

Last month, “Godzilla” opened with a strong international showing, taking in $93.1 million in America and $103.4 million across other global markets. Since then, the film’s performance has dipped somewhat, but it still remains strong with a worldwide gross of $396 million as of Sunday. Taking China’s explosive Friday performance into account places “Godzilla” above the $400 million range with a full weekend left to go.

Now that “Godzilla” has made its debut in China, there’s only one market left for the kaiju to attack: its home country of Japan. “Godzilla” debuts in Japan on July 15 -- with the blessing of the monster’s original studio Toho.