"Godzilla Minus Zero" stomped to the No. 1 spot at the North American box office over the weekend, pulling in an estimated $31.6 million and setting a new opening-weekend record for a foreign-language, live-action film, according to studio estimates reported by the Associated Press. The independent tracking site The Numbers put the domestic figure slightly lower, at $30.6 million, a discrepancy the distributor's own reporting and outside trackers often show in a film's first days.
Either way, the sequel to 2023's Oscar-winning "Godzilla Minus One" easily cleared the prior record for a foreign-language live-action release, the 2004 martial-arts epic "Hero," which opened to $17.9 million. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki and produced by Toho, the film launched in 3,254 North American theaters through the distributor GKIDS, alongside a roughly $17 million opening in Japan. IMAX screens — which hosted exclusive early showings before the wide release — accounted for $21.3 million of the film's worldwide total, or 34%.
A Franchise Built for This Moment
Set in post-World War II Japan, "Godzilla Minus Zero" picks up the story Yamazaki told in "Minus One," which won the Academy Award for best visual effects despite a reported budget under $20 million. The follow-up has drawn some of the best reviews of any wide release this fall: a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an "A" CinemaScore from opening-night audiences, after premiering last month at the New York Film Festival.
"This historic opening shows how deeply audiences around the world connect with Godzilla," Koji Ueda, president of Toho Global, said in comments distributed by the studio, crediting a release strategy that brought the film to North America and Japan almost simultaneously rather than staggering the rollout by region.
The film comfortably outdrew its closest competition. Warner Bros.' animated "The Cat in the Hat," voiced by Bill Hader and made on a reported $86 million budget, opened in second place with roughly $20.5 million domestically and a much cooler 44% critical score. Angel Studios' faith-based drama "Drummer Boy" rounded out the weekend's top three with a $9.3 million debut.
What's Next for Godzilla
Analysts quoted in trade coverage expect "Minus Zero" to comfortably clear its predecessor's $57.1 million domestic total within the next few weeks. Its success also sets up an inevitable comparison with "Godzilla x Kong: Supernova," the English-language entry from Warner Bros. and Legendary due in theaters next March — a franchise now being fought over on two very different creative fronts, one working in Japanese with practical-effects reverence, the other in English with Hollywood scale.
For now, the win belongs to Toho and GKIDS, and to a genre that keeps proving a 71-year-old movie monster still has an audience willing to show up opening weekend.
