Japan's latest Godzilla film has made a huge start in North American cinemas. Godzilla Minus Zero earned about $31.6 million in its opening weekend, according to Associated Press figures, finishing ahead of the family film The Cat in the Hat.
The movie is the follow-up to 2023's Godzilla Minus One, the low-budget Japanese hit that won an Oscar for visual effects and went on to take about $114 million worldwide. The new film, directed by Takashi Yamazaki and released in the US by distributor GKIDS, is set in 1949 and is the first Japanese film shot for IMAX.
It had already broken records at home. Studio Toho said the film sold around 590,000 tickets on its first day in Japan on November 3, the anniversary of the original 1954 Godzilla, setting an opening-day record for a live-action film there.
Before release, industry trackers had expected a North American debut in the mid-$20 millions, which would already have been GKIDS' biggest ever opening. The previous record for the distributor belonged to The Boy and the Heron, which opened with $13 million.