‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Stomps Into the Record Books With a Historic Opening

Few sequels have walked into theaters carrying as much goodwill as Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up to ‘Godzilla Minus One’. That film became a word-of-mouth favorite with both fans and awards voters, and it snagged an Oscar after its 2023 release.

The new film carries a lot of weight. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is the 39th Godzilla film and a direct sequel to ‘Godzilla Minus One’. For a benchmark, its predecessor earned $11.4 million in its December 2023 opening and finished with a $57.4 million domestic total.

Predictions for the sequel grew steadily as release day approached. Deadline’s box office preview had the film tracking for about $60 million worldwide, with more than $30 million coming from 23 international territories. Toho called it an opening-day record for a live-action title in Japan, though Deadline said it couldn’t independently verify that claim.

Now the North American numbers are in, and they are historic. Deadline reported that the film was barreling toward a $32 million launch, and ComicBook.com noted that this makes the best opening ever for a live-action foreign-language film. ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ still holds the overall record for a foreign-language release.

The Friday haul set up that projection. The film led the domestic box office with $14.5 million, more than double the $6 million earned by ‘The Cat in the Hat’. Forecasts for the full weekend differed slightly, with BoxOffice projecting $30 million and ERCboxoffice estimating $32 million. TheWrap’s industry estimate landed at about $31 million from 3,254 locations.

The sequel also isn’t simply riding the first film’s coattails. That total nearly triples the opening of ‘Godzilla Minus One’. The film also earned $6 million in previews, a new box office record for its distributor, GKIDS.

It also puts the movie in rare company. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is now only the fourth non-English film to take the No. 1 spot at the U.S. box office, joining ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ ‘Hero’ and ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’.

Audience response is giving the film room to keep going. It earned an A CinemaScore, the same grade as its predecessor, along with a 90% critics score and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. That kind of agreement between critics and moviegoers often helps a film hold up in the weeks after opening.

There’s also a streaming effect. JustWatch reports that ‘Godzilla Minus One’ was the most-watched film across all streaming platforms this past week, which suggests newcomers are catching up before heading to theaters. TheWrap also raised the question of whether the sequel will be more frontloaded than its predecessor, since devoted fans may simply be rushing out to see it on opening weekend.

The competition is much softer than the monster. ‘The Cat in the Hat’ opened with $6 million on Friday and is tracking for an $18 million weekend, below past Warner Bros. animated openings like ‘DC League of Super Pets’. That gap leaves Godzilla with a clear path to the top of the chart.

Where the franchise goes next may already be on the minds of fans. ComicBook.com argues that the film clearly sets up a third movie, despite its claim that everything ends here. If the box office keeps stomping like this, a third film seems likely to follow.