Godzilla Minus Zero Smashes Box Office Record With $31.6 Million Opening
Godzilla Minus Zero has stomped to the top of the North American box office, opening to an estimated $31.6 million and setting a new record for a live-action foreign-language film.
The Japanese monster sequel, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, took the number one spot across the United States and Canada over the 6–8 November weekend, playing in 3,254 theatres. Worldwide, it collected an estimated $63 million in its opening frame, with about $31.4 million coming from international markets outside North America.
The debut comfortably beat the previous record for a live-action foreign-language opening, held by Zhang Yimou’s martial arts epic Hero, which opened to $17.8 million in 2002. It also nearly tripled the $11.4 million opening of its predecessor, Godzilla Minus One, in December 2023.
All weekend figures are Sunday studio estimates, and Monday’s final actuals could move them slightly. But the scale of the result is already clear: a Japanese-language film, shown with English subtitles, has beaten every Hollywood release in the market.
A record built on the biggest screens
Large-format screens did much of the heavy lifting. IMAX alone generated $21.3 million globally, about 34 per cent of the film’s total opening, setting the biggest IMAX global opening ever for a Japanese film.
In North America, IMAX contributed $12.7 million across 429 venues, roughly 40 per cent of the domestic total. The film is the first Japanese production ever filmed for IMAX, a format that suited a monster epic built around scale and spectacle.
The film also performed strongly at home. It opened in Japan on 3 November, the anniversary of the original 1954 film, earning about $5.7 million on its first day — a record opening day for any live-action film in Japanese history — and roughly $17 million in Japan over the weekend.
From Oscar winner to box office giant
Godzilla Minus Zero is the direct sequel to Godzilla Minus One, which won the Academy Award for best visual effects in 2024 and became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever in the United States and Canada, finishing with $57 million in North America and $113 million worldwide.
The new film is the 39th entry in a franchise that began in 1954. Set in Japan in 1949, it follows a radioactively regenerated Godzilla as it confronts a new threat — the three-headed monster Ghidorah — while the country tries to rebuild after the Second World War.
It was produced by Toho, the studio behind the franchise, and is distributed in North America by GKIDS. The release reached more than 130 countries and over 10,000 screens, with the film available in 17 dubbed languages, and sold more than 11 million tickets worldwide in its opening weekend, according to Variety’s report.
Critics and audiences have embraced it. The film holds a 90 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A grade from CinemaScore audience polling, matching the warm reception that turned its predecessor into a word-of-mouth hit.
A strong weekend for cinema — and for Asian film
The opening helped push the overall North American weekend to an estimated $114 million, up sharply on the same weekend last year. Warner Bros.’ animated The Cat in the Hat finished second with about $20.5 million. The result also continues a strong run for big-screen event cinema, after The Odyssey passed $1.17 billion to become Universal’s biggest international release, while Pixar has named a new president as studios reshuffle their leadership.
The weekend also underlined the growing global reach of Asian cinema. India’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend earned $55.7 million worldwide in its opening frame, giving two Asian productions the top two global openings of the weekend.
For Toho and GKIDS, the numbers are striking given the film’s modest scale. Its budget is reported at between $13 million and $18 million, meaning it has already covered its production costs several times over in a single weekend.
The question now is how far the monster can run. Its predecessor legged out to more than $113 million worldwide on strong word of mouth, and with an A CinemaScore and record-breaking large-format business, exhibitors will be hoping Minus Zero follows the same path — only bigger.
Sources
Figures are Sunday studio estimates reported by Variety, Deadline and TheWrap, with Box Office Mojo figures cited in trade coverage. Final actuals were due on Monday, 9 November.
