“Shin Godzilla,” Toho’s reboot of its iconic monster franchise, roared to its weekend win at the Japanese box office. It is now projected to finish its run far north of the distributor’s initially forecast $40 million.

Reviews from critics have mostly been raves, while fans have been filing into theaters multiple times to pick up the nuances of the dialog-heavy storyline.

The highest ranking new entry to the top ten, at number four for the August 6-7 weekend, was the Toei SF/fantasy double bill “Kamen Rider Ghost the Movie: The 100 Eyecons and Ghost’s Fateful Moment” and “Animal Sentai Zuohger the Movie: Heart-throbbing Circus Panic!” Bowing on 304 screens nationwide, the two kid-targeted live-action films earned $2.5 million. That is nearly 30% more than Toei’s double bill featuring the Kamen Rider franchise last year, and the films are projected to end their run above the JPY1.0 billion ($9.8 million) milestone.

Opening at number five was “Rudolph the Black Cat,” Toho 3-D CG animation about a Countryside cat in downtown Tokyo. Released on 346 screens, the film grossed $2.1 million.