‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Is Stomping Toward a Monster Global Box Office Debut

Few sequels arrive with as much goodwill as Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up to ‘Godzilla Minus One’. The 2023 film surprised the industry by turning a modest production into a worldwide phenomenon, and it went on to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Yamazaki became only the second director since Stanley Kubrick to take home that award, and his movie became the only Godzilla film in 70 years to win an Oscar. That history explains why the franchise’s return, set in 1949, two years after the events of the first film, has drawn so much attention.

Now the numbers are starting to match the buzz. According to Deadline’s box office preview, the monster sequel is tracking to open around $60M worldwide, with more than $30M expected from 23 international territories.

The film opened in Japan on November 3 and arrives in North American theaters on November 6. In the United States, it is on track to earn about $30M from 3,254 theaters, according to Variety’s forecast, which would put it at the top of the weekend charts.

The early results from Japan are already striking. The film earned $5.7M on its first day, which works out to ¥910 million, with more than 590,000 admissions. That first day was up 201% over the opening day of ‘Godzilla Minus One’. Toho has called it an opening-day record for a live-action title in Japan, although Deadline said it could not independently verify that claim.

Both numbers suggest that the sequel is connecting with audiences at home even more strongly than its predecessor did. Japanese forecasts project a final total of more than ¥10 billion, or about $63.2M, in the home market. For comparison, the first film earned $48.2M of its global total in Japan.

‘Godzilla Minus One’ opened in the United States with $11.4M and finished with $57M domestically, which made it the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film in North America. Globally, it earned about $113M, and it did so on a budget its director put at between $10M and $15M.

The sequel has more room to grow, and it reportedly carries a bigger budget than its predecessor. Even if it lands in the mid-$20M range in North America, it would still be the biggest opening ever for distributor GKIDS, beating the $13M debut of ‘The Boy and the Heron’ in 2023.

The film also stands out for how it was made. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is the first Japanese production ever filmed for IMAX, and it is expected to overperform on premium large formats.

That fits the sequel’s scale, since the movie runs 2 hours and 15 minutes and carries an R rating. Yamazaki wrote, directed and handled the visual effects once again, and the cast includes returning stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe and Sae Nagatani as the Shikishima family.

The new trailer for ‘GODZILLA MINUS ZERO’ has been released. In theaters on November 6. https://t.co/sgaEXweerd

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 8, 2026

Early reviews have been largely positive, though not unanimous. Gizmodo called it a perfect sequel and a worthy companion to its Oscar-winning predecessor, while Consequence praised it as bigger, louder and beautiful.

The A.V. Club was more mixed, arguing that the addition of King Ghidorah leads to diminishing returns even as it called the film an above-average Godzilla entry. The film currently holds a Metascore of 75, and reviewers have also noted that it is the first R-rated Godzilla movie.

The sequel is expected to beat ‘The Cat in the Hat’ for the top spot, and its debut could make it just the fourth non-English film to top the U.S. box office. Projections from Screen Rant suggest that, if it follows the same trajectory as the first film, it could earn more than $275M worldwide by the end of its run.

The ending also leaves room for a third film, according to Deadline’s review, and the film’s success could determine how quickly Toho moves forward. For now, the monster is back, and the tracking suggests audiences are ready to see it.

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