Los Angeles – Godzilla Minus Zero is king of the box office in its opening weekend as the sequel feature tallies the biggest launch in its distributor’s history with nearly three times the debut of predecessor Godzilla Minus One. Hitting 3,254 North American theaters from GKids and Toho, Godzilla Minus Zero conquered $31.6 million domestically for the weekend. This is being touted as the highest-grossing live-action foreign-language opening at the box office since 2004’s Hero launched with $17.8 million. (It’s behind the debut of last year’s animated Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle with $70.6 million, while 2004’s The Passion of the Christ and its massive $83.8 million opening is not included in the category as an American-produced project.) Godzilla Minus Zero notches the highest-grossing opening weekend for a GKids release, topping the $13 million for 2023’s Oscar-winning The Boy and the Heron. Godzilla Minus Zero added $31.4 million internationally, including $17 million in Japan. Filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki‘s sequel to 2023’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One earned an A CinemaScore from audiences and performed well above the distributor’s projected opening in the mid-$20 millions.Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe and Min Tanaka star in the new movie that carries a reported budget in the mid-teens. It centers on postwar Japan dealing with attacks from the three-headed Ghidorah and the possibility of Godzilla’s return. Godzilla Minus Zero holds an impressive 90 percent critics approval on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 96 from audiences, with The Hollywood Reporter chief film critic David Rooney calling it a “thrilling jolt of marauding monster action.” The sequel is making a bigger footprint than Godzilla Minus One, which opened in December 2023 with $11.4 million domestically and reached $57.1 million for the run, adding $56.9 million internationally. The film rode its massive breakout success to become Japan’s first feature to win the best visual effects Oscar. Overall, the weekend showed an increase of around 11 percent over last weekend, with the studios avoiding new releases for the Halloween frame, and a roughly 40 percent uptick from the equivalent 2025 weekend that saw the debut of 20 Century’s Predator: Badlands, according to FranchiseRe. This October had trouble establishing hits that can continue to play deep into the fall. Warner Bros.’ The Cat in the Hat grossed a sleepy $20.5 million domestically from 4,003 North American locations, on par with the studio’s projection. The two previous animated Dr. Seuss adaptations had far higher debuts, with Universal’s 2018 The Grinch swiping $67.5 million in its opening, while that studio’s 2012 launch of The Lorax claimed $70.2 million. 

The studio hopes for word of mouth to help the $92 million-budgeted The Cat in the Hat play through the Thanksgiving holiday and into December after earning an A CinemaScore, with competition on the horizon from Disney’s Hexed on Nov. 25.
Dr. Seuss films historically haven’t made a big splash overseas, and this one has staggered its international release, with around half of the territories set for later debuts throughout the remainder of the year. The Cat in the Hat added $10 million internationally for the frame.