'Godzilla Minus Zero' Debuts at No. 1 With $31.6 Million Opening

Japanese writer-director Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus Zero roared to No. 1 at the North American box office over the November 6 to November 8, 2026 weekend with an estimated $31.6 million in ticket sales, setting an all-time domestic opening record for a live-action foreign-language motion picture and lifting overall weekend theater revenue by 96.8% over the prior frame, according to studio estimates reported by the Associated Press on KCBS Radio.

Produced by Toho for a budget under $20 million and distributed in North America by animation and international specialty distributor GKids, Godzilla Minus Zero arrives as the direct follow-up to Yamazaki's 2023 Academy Award-winning visual effects hit Godzilla Minus One, which earned $57.1 million in North America on a production budget under $15 million. The sequel's debut coincided with Godzilla's 72nd birthday.

Foreign-Language Milestones and IMAX Demand

With its $31.6 million domestic launch, Godzilla Minus Zero shattered the previous North American opening record for a live-action foreign-language release, which had stood since 2004 when Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic Hero debuted to $17.9 million. Across all non-English-language films released in North America, Godzilla Minus Zero ranks third behind only Mel Gibson's 2004 drama The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million) and last year's anime blockbuster Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle ($70.6 million).

In Japan, Godzilla Minus Zero added another $17 million over the weekend. Premium large-format auditoriums drove a major share of global turnout, with IMAX theaters accounting for $21.3 million—roughly 34%—of the film's worldwide opening gross. Critics and audiences embraced the sequel, awarding it a 90% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes and an "A" grade on CinemaScore.

'The Cat in the Hat' and the Top 10 Rentrak Standings

Warner Bros.' animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, featuring the voice of Bill Hader and produced on an $86 million budget, opened at No. 2 with $20.5 million in North America and $10 million from international territories, while drawing a 44% Rotten Tomatoes score.

According to final weekend figures compiled by Rentrak, the rest of the domestic top 10 rounded out as follows:

• No. 3: Drummer Boy with $9.3 million.
• No. 4: You Can See Everything with $8.9 million in its 4th weekend, bringing its cumulative domestic total to $79.8 million.
• No. 5: Sony Pictures' Indian epic Ramayana: Rise of a Legend with $8.7 million in North America alongside $32 million in India.
• No. 6: Laika's stop-motion animated fantasy Wildwood, which dipped 22% in its 3rd weekend to $7 million, raising its domestic total to $39.8 million against a production budget exceeding $100 million.
• No. 7: Clayface with $6.7 million.
• No. 8: Searchlight Pictures and Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, which expanded to 1,100 theaters in North America for $6 million domestically and $6.6 million internationally.
• No. 9: Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience Live Viewing with $3.7 million.
• No. 10: Wicker with $3.4 million.

In limited platform releases, A24's Club Kid averaged $65,097 per theater across 6 screens, while director Peter Farrelly's I Play Rocky—starring Anthony Ippolito as a young Sylvester Stallone during the making of the original Rocky—averaged $49,200 per venue across 7 screens.