any hopes toho had of "godzilla: final wars" ending the series with a box office bang were stifled when the film opened in japan on december 4, 2004. in its opening weekend, it came in third at the box office with $1,874,559. at the holiday season box office, it was beaten by "howl's moving castle" and "the incredibles", both which also pursued the family market. it eventually grossed roughly $12,000,000 at the japanese box office, with 1,000,000 admissions. not only was it the least-attended film in the millennium series, it was also the least attended film in 29 years since "terror of mechagodzilla".