Godzilla Minus Zero
Godzilla Minus Zero

Godzilla is back on top. "Godzilla Minus Zero" stomped into movie theaters with a chart-topping $31.6 million over the weekend, scoring a record debut for a foreign-language film at the North American box office.

Takashi Yamazaki's sequel to 2023's Oscar-winning "Godzilla Minus One" easily beat Warner Bros.' animated "The Cat in the Hat," which, featuring the voice of Bill Hader, opened with $20.5 million, plus $10 million overseas.

Records broken

The debut shattered expectations for a Japanese-language release. It was nearly triple the $11.4 million opening of its December 2023 predecessor, "Godzilla Minus One."

It beat the live-action record previously held by 2004's "Hero," which launched with $17.9 million. Some outlets note an exception. TheWrap described it as the second-highest opening for a non-English live-action film, behind only "The Passion of the Christ," which was performed in Hebrew, Latin and Aramaic and opened to $83 million in 2004.

It also set a record for its distributor. The film posted the highest-grossing opening weekend for a GKids release, topping the $13 million for 2023's Oscar-winning "The Boy and the Heron."

Animation still holds the overall foreign-language crown. It remains far behind the $70.6 million opening record for an animated foreign-language film set by "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle" last year.

IMAX surge

Premium screens drove the opening. As the first-ever Japanese production filmed for IMAX, the movie collected $12 million domestically from the format, an eye-popping 40 percent of the domestic haul.

Global performance

The film added $31.4 million internationally, including $17 million in Japan, and opened in 3,254 North American theaters.

It was made on a modest budget. With a budget of less than $20 million, it is sure to blow past its predecessor's record haul of $57.1 million.

Box office rebound

The film helped lift the overall market. After a sleepy Halloween weekend, overall ticket sales were up 96.8% from the previous weekend, according to Rentrak.

International films had a strong weekend. "Ramayana," distributed by Sony Pictures in North America, launched with $8.7 million domestically and $32 million in India, and both it and "Godzilla Minus Zero" debuted in their home countries at the same time as in the U.S.

A franchise revived

The film is the 39th in the Godzilla franchise and the sixth installment of the Reiwa era. Its predecessor grossed $116 million worldwide and became the most successful Japanese Godzilla film.

The results add to a trend of non-English films drawing American audiences to theaters.