Doraemon Beats Godzilla's Box Office Record

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And our last word in business today is a takedown of everyone's favorite giant radioactive reptile.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "GODZILLA")

MONTAGNE: That pop-culture monster, Godzilla, hatched nearly 60 years ago in a Japanese movie production studio.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

He stomped through cities battling other giant creatures, from Mothra to King Kong. Well, now The Wall Street Journal reports that Godzilla has been vanquished. His box office attendance records, at least, has been beaten.

MONTAGNE: The monster behind this victory: a little blue robot cat named Doraemon.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Foreign language spoken)

MONTAGNE: Doraemon is not well-known in the U.S., but the robo-kitty is a cultural icon in Japan, bigger perhaps than Mickey Mouse is here.

GREENE: Say it ain't so. Since 1969 the little animated character and its pocket of magical tools has been captivating kids for decades. He's not only a movie star, he's also got his own TV series and video games too.

MONTAGNE: The producer behind Doraemon just happens to be the same studio that owns Godzilla. And earlier this week the studio announced the cat had defeated Godzilla in lifetime box office attendance.

GREENE: Here are the numbers. The little robot cat has sold more than 100 million tickets compared to the big reptile's 99 million. I hope Godzilla is not angry. I mean the idea that Godzilla...

MONTAGNE: Ooh, that would be - ooh, gosh.

GREENE: Smashing that cute little cat. Not very pleasant.

(LAUGHTER)

GREENE: That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.