¡°Godzilla Minus One,¡± the new Godzilla movie released Friday, racked up over ?1 billion ($6.6 million) at the box office in its first three days, with nearly 650,000 people flocking to theaters to see the film.

Being shown at more than 500 theaters nationwide, it raked in ?1.04 billion in revenue, topping the revenue of ¡°Shin Godzilla,¡± which was released in 2016. Popular actors Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe star in the movie, which is hitting North American theaters on Dec. 1.

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the film¡¯s premise doesn¡¯t depart far from that of the original movie. Set in postwar Tokyo, which was already devastated in WWII defeat, the movie depicts humans¡¯ struggle to fight against the rampaging Godzilla.

The franchise is celebrating its 70th anniversary next year. The latest movie marks the 30th live-action Godzilla film to be produced by Toho.

Multiple marketing tie-ups have been launched in collaboration with Toho this month. Major convenience store FamilyMart is offering a series of paper coffee cups that feature the beloved °ì²¹¾±Âᨱ. A campaign from pizza franchise Pizza-la, which is named after the last syllable of Godzilla¡¯s name, is offering customers chances to win discount coupons as well as original merchandise such as calendars and T-shirts.

The city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture, where many of the scenes were filmed ¡ª including a notable scene in which humans battle against Godzilla in the ocean ¡ª is pushing a tourism promotion campaign that features local products as well as a stamp collection tour of local filming locations.

Toho has also partnered with Boat Race Hamanako, which is set to be held Jan. 25-30, though details of the event were still under wraps.

The original ¡°Godzilla,¡± released in 1954, was inspired by the contemporaneous criticism of U.S. atomic bomb testing in Bikini Atoll. The movie became an international success partly thanks to its then-cutting-edge special effects.

Since then, 29 more live-action Godzila films have been released by Toho. Multiple spin-offs include five versions made by Hollywood studios. Over the years Godzilla has become a household name as one of the nation¡¯s most famous film series.