Like a creature rising from oceans deep, the DreamWorks Animation SKG film “Monsters vs. Aliens”  hit Japan on Saturday, where the 3-D animated comedy reportedly had a sizable opening of $1.2 million in only 390 theaters over the weekend, and where box office watchers say it stands to perform strongly by tipping its hat to Japanese-born giants like Godzilla  and Mothra.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” opened in the U.S. and Canada on March 27 and led the box office race that weekend with nearly $60 million. But a month later DreamWorks chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said the film had underperformed internationally.

The movie has been a success overall, making $197 million in the U.S. and Canada and $175 million elsewhere, for a total of more than $370 million. But a strong Japanese showing would help offset weaker performances in Germany, France and Italy.

“There’s going to be something that speaks to the Japanese people for sure in this movie,” director Conrad Vernon told Reuters.

Vernon said he and co-director Rob Letterman sought to invoke the monsters of Japanese movies from the 1950s and ’60s, like Godzilla and Mothra. Those creatures were models for one of the giant characters in the film, Insectosaurus, he said.

The filmmakers also borrowed other elements from Japanese monster movies, such as the way crowds move in panic, he said.

“There’s a big homage paid to those Japanese films,” Vernon said.

Vernon said the 1968 Japanese movie “Destroy All Monsters,”  in which aliens release giant monsters from their island compound to attack major cities, was a particularly strong influence on “Monsters vs. Aliens.”

“Monsters vs. Aliens” features the voice work of actress Reese Witherspoon as a 50-foot-(15-metre-) tall woman who joins with a team of monsters to battle an alien invasion. 

“Certainly the Japanese market will make a considerable contribution to the film’s worldwide success,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Hollywood.com Box Office.

The Hollywood Reporter said that “Monsters vs. Aliens” made $1.2 million in 390 theaters in its opening weekend, a result that Dergarabedian described as a strong showing given the limited number of theaters that played the film.