Entertainment

Godzilla Minus Zero Posts a Record Foreign-Language Opening in North America

Toho's Japanese-language sequel opened to an estimated $31.6 million in North America and about $63 million worldwide, the biggest debut for a foreign-language live-action film

By The BB Report November 11, 2026

Godzilla Minus Zero Posts a Record Foreign-Language Opening in North America — The Godzilla Road sign on a Kabukicho street in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Photo: Another Believer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Key takeaways

Godzilla Minus Zero took an estimated $31.6 million in North America in its first weekend, the largest opening on record for a live-action, non-English-language film made outside the US.
The film grossed about $63 million worldwide in its opening weekend, almost three times the estimated opening of its predecessor, Godzilla Minus One.
Toho’s press materials say there won’t be a third film, and IMAX screens supplied 34 percent of the worldwide opening.

Godzilla Minus Zero, the Japanese-language sequel from Toho, opened at number one in North America on the weekend of 6 November 2026 with an estimated $31.6 million, according to reports on the weekend’s box office. That beats the previous record for a live-action foreign-language film by nearly $14 million.

Worldwide, the film has taken about $63 million so far, and Toho says it set the opening-day record for a live-action release in Japan. The figures are estimates.

A record in North America

The film opened in North America on 6 November. Its estimated $31.6 million opening beat Zhang Yimou’s 2004 film Hero, which took $17.8 million and had held the record for the biggest domestic opening for a live-action, non-English-language film produced outside the US for more than two decades, according to The Week and Dread Central.

The comparison with its predecessor is stark. Godzilla Minus One opened in North America in 2023 with $11.4 million, so Minus Zero’s debut is nearly triple that figure. Dread Central noted that it is also the biggest opening in the history of GKIDS, the distributor, and that the film is R-rated and in Japanese with subtitles.

The weekend result also carries a language point. The film is in Japanese with subtitles and carries an R rating, yet Dread Central reported that it took the number-one spot at the American box office, ahead of every other release that weekend.

Opening figures

Godzilla Minus Zero opened in Japan on 3 November and in North America on 6 November. Its North American opening is estimated at $31.6 million and its worldwide opening at about $63 million, with IMAX screens supplying about $21.3 million worldwide. The previous record for a foreign-language live-action opening in North America was $17.8 million, set by Hero.

Previews, Friday and the critics

Comic Basics said the film earned $6 million from previews, a record for GKIDS, and $14.5 million on Friday, more than double the $6 million taken by The Cat in the Hat, a rival opener. TheWrap estimated the opening at about $31 million from 3,254 locations. Pre-release projections had ranged from $30 million to $32 million, so the result landed inside the forecast range.

The reception data is strong. The film has a CinemaScore of A, the same grade as its predecessor, along with a 90 percent critics score and a 96 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, according to Comic Basics.

It is also only the fourth non-English film to reach number one at the US box office, after The Passion of the Christ, Hero and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. Demon Slayer still holds the overall foreign-language opening record, and Minus Zero’s mark applies to live-action films. Godzilla Minus One finished its North American run with $57.4 million, so the sequel’s opening weekend alone has already reached more than half of the earlier film’s total.

Japan and the rest of the world

Japan received the film first, on 3 November, exactly three years after Minus One’s 2023 release and the date known there as Godzilla Day, according to Final Weapon. Toho announced that the film sold 590,000 tickets and grossed 910 million yen, about $5.7 million, on opening day, which it called a record for a live-action film in Japan. Comic Basics noted that Deadline said it could not verify that claim.

The film is described as the first Japanese production shot in the Filmed for IMAX format with certified digital cameras. Final Weapon said Toho filmed it in the 1.43:1 IMAX aspect ratio, and Toho’s press materials call it both the first Japanese live-action Godzilla film and the first Japanese film made with that technology.

The global opening weekend came to about $63 million, which The Week said is almost three times the estimated opening of the predecessor. Godzilla Minus One ultimately earned about $116 million worldwide, so the sequel has already covered more than half of that total in a single weekend if the early estimate holds.

Deadline’s pre-release tracking, cited by Comic Basics, had pointed to about $60 million worldwide, including more than $30 million from 23 international territories. The early global estimate of about $63 million therefore sits slightly above that forecast. The figures are estimates and may change.

The IMAX effect

Premium large-format screens made a major contribution to the opening. IMAX screenings earned about $21.3 million worldwide, or 34 percent of the global opening, The Week reported. Dread Central put IMAX’s share of the North American opening at $12.7 million.

The film is described as the first Japanese production shot in the Filmed for IMAX format with certified digital cameras. Toho’s press materials call it both the first Japanese live-action Godzilla film and the first Japanese film made with that technology.

Takashi Yamazaki directed and wrote the film and supervised its visual effects.

The film, the makers and the budget

Takashi Yamazaki directed and wrote the film and supervised its visual effects. Its predecessor, Godzilla Minus One, won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The cast includes Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Masami Nagasawa, Jun Kunimura and Min Tanaka, who plays the new character Kanji Murakami, and returning cast members include Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Sasaki and Sakura Ando. Naoki Sato composed the music.

Toho produced the film with Toho Studios and ROBOT, and the visual effects were created by Shirogumi, according to the company’s press release. The Week gave an estimated budget of $18 million to $19 million for the sequel, against $10 million to $15 million for Minus One. Those figures come from a single outlet, The Week.

The last of the series, for now

Toho’s press materials say the story ends here. They state that "There won’t be a third time."

Yamazaki has left a little room. Dread Central quoted him as saying that if Toho came to him with another offer to explore this world even further, he would probably say yes.

For now the commercial story is the opening itself. The second-weekend figures will show how well the film holds up after a debut that nearly tripled its predecessor’s North American opening.