The weekend of May 18, has proven to be one of the finest showings of a Godzilla film to date. Gareth Edwards directs “Godzilla,” which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass”), Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai,” “Inception”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Oscar winner Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient,” “Cosmopolis”), and Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), with Oscar nominee David Strathairn (“Good Night, and Good Luck.,” “The Bourne Legacy”) and Bryan Cranston (“Argo,” TV’s “Breaking Bad”).
 
Edwards directs from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, story by David Callaham, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO CO., LTD. Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Patricia Whitcher and Alex Garcia are serving as executive producers, alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.
 
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar-nominated director of photography Seamus McGarvey (“Anna Karenina,” “Atonement”); production designer Owen Paterson (“The Matrix” trilogy); editor Bob Ducsay (“Looper”); Oscar®-nominated costume designer Sharen Davis (“Dreamgirls,” “Ray,” “Django Unchained”); and Oscar®-winning visual effects supervisor Jim Rygiel (the “Lord of the Rings” films). The score is being created by Oscar®-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat (“Argo,” “The King’s Speech”).
 
Rentrak’s Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian commented, “Monsters and Super Heroes announce that the summer movie season is in full swing in the international marketplace as ‘Godzilla’ posts the biggest debut of the year with $103 million in 64 territories adding up to a monster-sized global debut of $196.2 million. ‘The Amazing Spider-man 2’ adds another $31.5 million in 92 territories this weekend and slings its worldwide total to over $600 million. Notably, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ crosses the $700 million milestone globally after adding another $1.3 million this weekend in 30 international markets.”
 
The top-12 domestic weekend box office estimates listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, May 18, 2014, are below.
 
1. Godzilla – Warner Bros. – $93.2M
2. Neighbors – Universal – $26.0M
3. Amazing Spider-Man 2, The – Sony – $16.8M
4. Million Dollar Arm – Disney – $10.5M
5. Other Woman, The – 20th Century Fox – $6.3M
6. Heaven Is For Real – Sony – $4.4M
7. Rio 2 – 20th Century Fox – $3.8M
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Disney – $3.8M
9. Legends Of Oz – Freestyle Releasing – $2.0M
10. Mom’s Night Out – Sony – $1.9M
11. Divergent – Lionsgate – $1.1M
12. Grand Budapest Hotel, The – Fox Searchlight – $1.1M