'Godzilla Minus Zero' Outruns 'The Cat in the Hat' Toward a Record Opening

The estimated $32 million would be the biggest North American opening ever for a live-action foreign-language film.

The last time director Takashi Yamazaki sent Godzilla into North American theaters, the monster opened to $11.4 million. That film went on to give Japan its first-ever Academy Award for visual effects.

His sequel is heading for nearly three times that. "Godzilla Minus Zero" took in $14.5 million Friday, Thursday previews included, and is on track for an estimated $32 million weekend in 3,254 theaters, The Hollywood Reporter reported Saturday. Bill Hader's "The Cat in the Hat," Warner Bros.' animated take on Dr. Seuss, is running second. So a Japanese monster movie with a reported budget in the mid-teens is beating a $92 million Hollywood family film.

If the estimate holds, it's a first. Deadline reported it would be the best North American opening ever for a live-action foreign-language film, passing the $17.8 million debut of the Chinese film "Hero." Deadline said it's also the biggest start the movie's U.S. distributor, GKids, has ever had. The overall foreign-language record still belongs to an anime, "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle," which opened to $70.6 million last year, according to Deadline.

The spending is the real surprise. According to Deadline, North American marketing ran under $10 million, and iSpot data showed no TV spots bought at all. Audiences paid for the big screens instead: Deadline said 74% of the weekend gross is coming from Imax and other premium large-format auditoriums, a share it called never seen before. When "The Odyssey" opened, those screens brought in 52% of its weekend.

"The Cat in the Hat" made $6 million Friday, playing in about 750 more theaters than Godzilla. THR expects around $18 million for the weekend, below the $20 million Warner Bros. had projected. Variety put it at $18.7 million, while Deadline said an A CinemaScore left the studio a shot at $20 million.

So did reviews cost it first place? Critics have split on the film, and THR's critic Frank Scheck called it "more taxing than enjoyable." The math leaves little room for blame, though. Even the studio's own $20 million target would've finished $12 million behind Godzilla.

Bad reviews haven't sunk this cat before. Universal's live-action version with Mike Myers sits at 11% on Rotten Tomatoes and still opened to $38.3 million in 2003, THR noted. It finished with $101 million in North America, against a $109 million budget.

Warner Bros. is counting on word of mouth to carry the new one through Thanksgiving and into December, according to THR. Deadline turned up an early sign of how that works. Nine of the film's top 10 theaters Friday were in New Jersey, where a teachers' conference had closed schools, and Deadline expects more family traffic by Wednesday, Veterans Day.

Godzilla doesn't need a day off from school. "Godzilla Minus One" took its whole run to reach $57.1 million in North America. Its sequel is on pace to make more than half that in three days.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, retrieved November 8, 2026. Other sources: Deadline, Variety.