‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Is Rewriting the Box Office Rulebook for Foreign-Language Films

The ‘Godzilla’ franchise is more than 70 years old, yet it is in the middle of its biggest moment ever. Few long-running monsters get a second act this loud, and fewer still do it without leaning entirely on Hollywood spectacle.

The newest chapter arrived with real expectations attached. Director Takashi Yamazaki returned for the sequel, which put him in position to make box office history for the property. The bar was already high, since ‘Godzilla Minus One’ earned $11.4 million in its North American opening weekend.

The early signs overseas were hard to ignore. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ opened in Japan on Nov. 3, and its distributors say it became the highest-grossing live-action opening day in Japanese box office history, domestic and international films included. That set the tone before the film ever reached American screens.

North American audiences quickly showed they were just as eager. The film earned roughly $6 million from preview screenings ahead of its Nov. 6 wide release, a new record for its distributor GKIDS. Tracking was already pointing to something big, with Box Office Theory forecasting a domestic opening range of $24 million to $33 million.

Then the weekend numbers came in. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ led Friday’s domestic box office with $14.5 million, more than double the $6 million earned by ‘The Cat in the Hat.’ Saturday brought an industry-estimated opening of about $31 million from 3,254 locations.

That brings us to the headline figure. ComicBook.com, citing Deadline, reports that the film has dominated with a $32 million opening, the best ever for a live-action foreign-language film. Forecasts for the weekend ranged from $30 million to $32 million, depending on the estimator.

The record comes with a caveat. ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ still holds the overall box office record for foreign-language films, so this milestone applies specifically to live-action releases. Even so, it is a notable win for a movie that doesn’t speak English in a market that rarely rewards that.

The result is also a first for the franchise. The projection was more than double what the first film made in its opening weekend, and it would be by far the biggest North American opening for a Japanese ‘Godzilla’ movie. It would also be the first to win a full weekend at the top of the box office. The film was also on track to become just the 4th non-English release to top the U.S. box office, with IMAX support helping its run.

The numbers come with some context about the film itself. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is R-rated, which makes the haul more impressive for a monster movie. It isn’t expected to catch ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,’ the franchise’s all-time leader with $572 million worldwide in 2024. Still, a strong opening puts it in a category of its own.

For now, the story is less about the final total and more about what this weekend proves. A subtitled monster sequel just beat a Warner Bros. animated release and posted one of the biggest foreign-language debuts the U.S. has seen. Whether it holds through the coming weeks will decide just how big this roar ends up being.