‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Wins Over Audiences With a Rare CinemaScore, and the Box Office Legs Look Monstrous
For more than 70 years, Godzilla has been stomping through theaters, but few eras have been as celebrated as the one Takashi Yamazaki started. His ‘Godzilla Minus One’ turned a subtitled Japanese kaiju film into an Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects and a $116 million worldwide hit. That success left one big question hanging over the sequel: would audiences embrace ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ the way they embraced the original?
The follow-up arrived with a lot of firsts attached. Set in 1949, two years after the events of the previous film, it brings back Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe, with Yamazaki again writing, directing and leading the visual effects. It is also the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX and the first film in the franchise to carry an R rating, for violent content and bloody images.
Now the early verdict from paying moviegoers is in. Opening-weekend audiences gave ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ an A CinemaScore, a grade that is hard to come by for a non-English-language release. It matches the A earned by ‘Godzilla Minus One’ and puts the sequel in the same league as ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ with general audiences.
Audiences have spoken!!! #1 Oops… Director #TakashiYamazaki did it again, recapturing the magic with another #Godzilla classic, as R-rated #GodzillaMinusZero aka #ゴジラ-0 receives SPECTACULAR, rare for non-English language films, A #CinemaScore from mesmerised moviegoers, best reception ever in the #Godzilla franchise’s history on par with #GvK & #GodzillaMinusOne Compared to #Godzilla, #MonsterVerse & #KingKong movies: On par with: #GodzillavsKong & #GodzillaMinusOne A Over: #GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire, #KingKong A- 2014 #Godzilla & #GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters, #KongSullIsland B+ 1998 #Godzilla & 2000 #Godzilla’s B- #KingKongLives D+ Excellent news for legs at the #BoxOffice!
— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) November 7, 2026
The grade lands on top of a launch that was already historic. According to Deadline, the film pulled in $13.5 million on Friday across 3,254 theaters, including $6.7 million in previews. That put it on track for an opening between $30 million and $33 million.
If that range holds, ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ will become the biggest opening ever for a live-action foreign-language film in North America. It would surpass the $17.8 million debut of ‘Hero’ in 2002. It would also be the largest opening for distributor GKIDS, whose previous best was ‘The Boy and the Heron’.
The comparison with the first film is striking. ‘Godzilla Minus One’ opened to $11.4 million and went on to earn about $57 million in the US. Its sequel’s preview total alone is more than 3 times what that film made in its Wednesday and Thursday previews.
An opening weekend can be driven by fans, but a strong CinemaScore is one of the best early signs that word of mouth will carry a film for weeks. The studio had said it hoped audience buzz would help the movie play through the Thanksgiving holiday and into December. An A gives that plan real support.
Critics have been on board too. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival in September to rave reactions and holds a Rotten Tomatoes score around 90%, a shade below its predecessor’s 99%. Audience scores have been even warmer, with one report putting the audience score at 96%.
There was a real risk that the R rating and the sequel setup could have narrowed the audience. Boxoffice Pro warned before release that its direct connection to ‘Godzilla Minus One’, with returning characters and plot threads, might confuse newcomers. The fan-friendly grade suggests that general moviegoers followed along without trouble.
The film’s momentum is not limited to North America. In Japan, it posted a $5.7 million opening day, or ¥910 million, with more than 590,000 admissions. Its first 3 days reached ¥1.38 billion, about $8.7 million, which was reported as a record for a live-action film there.
Worldwide, the film was tipped for an opening around $60 million as it rolled out across roughly 60 international markets. IMAX and other premium large formats have given the release an extra boost, and the movie went into the weekend as the clear favorite over fellow newcomer ‘The Cat in the Hat’.
The story itself also explains some of the buzz. The film pits Godzilla against King Ghidorah, and the trailers promised an attack on New York City, which gave American audiences extra incentive to turn out. Pairing that scale with the human drama of the Shikishima family seems to have struck a chord.
The new trailer for ‘GODZILLA MINUS ZERO’ has been released. In theaters on November 6. https://t.co/sgaEXweerd
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 8, 2026
If the A CinemaScore holds up through the coming weeks, ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ could do something few foreign-language films have managed: turn a record opening into a long theatrical run. The coming weekends will show whether Yamazaki’s sequel can keep climbing against bigger holiday releases.
Do you think Godzilla Minus Zero deserves its rare A CinemaScore and has the potential to outperform Godzilla Minus One?
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