Godzilla Minus Zero Projected at $30M-$33M Opening — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Godzilla Minus Zero took $13.5M on Friday from 3,254 theaters, including $6.7M in previews, putting Gkids' Takashi Yamazaki film on pace for a $30M-$33M opening that would be the distributor's biggest ever and the largest domestic opening for a live-action foreign-language film, ahead of Hero's $17.8M in 2002.
- Gkids set a distributor preview record with $6.7M since Tuesday, ahead of Godzilla: King of the Monsters ($6.3M Thursday previews), Predator: Badlands ($4.8M), Detective Pikachu ($5.7M) and the studio's previous high, The Boy and the Heron ($2.39M previews, $13M opening); Godzilla Minus One took $2.1M in Wednesday-Thursday previews to an $11.4M opening.
- Japan gave the film ¥1.38 billion ($8.7M) in three days, with a ¥910M ($5.7M) opening Godzilla Day that is the biggest opening day for a live-action film in Japan, ahead of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' ¥840M.
- Rotten Tomatoes shows Godzilla Minus Zero at 91% certified fresh with a 96% audience score, just short of Godzilla Minus One's 99% fresh; among Godzilla films, only Godzilla vs. Kong matched Minus One's A CinemaScore, with 2024's Godzilla x King at A-.
- Imax and heavy premium-location bookings underpin the upside over an industry forecast that topped out at $30M+, and the R rating arrives without nudity or profanity despite the film's massive destruction in Japan.
- The Cat in the Hat finished second with a $5M Friday, including $1M in previews, at 4,003 theaters and a projected $17M-$20M three-day total, though critics are split at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes; Angel Studios' Drummer Boy took third with a $3.8M Friday and $9M opening at 2,850 theaters.
- Ramayana: Rise of the Legend claimed the widest North American release ever for an Indian film at 1,433 locations, grossing $3.5M on Thursday including Wednesday previews, with Sony still forecasting a $6M opening; it is one half of a $420M-$500M two-part feature and holds a 93% Popcornmeter audience score.
Why it matters: Gkids' projected $30M-$33M opening would nearly double Hero's $17.8M, the previous best for a live-action foreign-language film, and top Gkids' own $13M record from The Boy and the Heron. The same Toho film also opened to a ¥910M record day in Japan, passing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Ask SkimNews
