Godzilla Minus Zero Eyes Opening Weekend Win Over Two New Rivals
Godzilla Minus Zero is on track to earn $30 million from 3,254 theatres in North America over its opening weekend, Variety reported. The film is expected to finish first on the charts, ahead of two other new releases.
The main challenger is The Cat in the Hat, which is aiming for $20 million to $25 million from about 4,000 domestic venues. "Domestic" means the United States and Canada. The film carries a $92 million production budget, according to the same Variety report. Wild Horse Nine is targeting $5 million to $7 million from 1,000 screens.
Earlier, Box Office Pro had projected a wider range for the Godzilla film, between $25 million and $35 million for its domestic opening, in a forecast published in October. Opening weekend is the first three days of ticket sales, Friday through Sunday, and it sets the tone for how long a film stays in cinemas.
The film is the follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, which came out in 2023 and earned $56 million, making it the highest-grossing Japanese-language live-action film of all time, Variety has reported. Takashi Yamazaki directed the new film, which is set two years after the first. Variety's review describes a battle to the death between Godzilla and King Ghidorah.
The chain behind the film stretches across two countries. Japan's Toho produced it, and GKids distributes it in the United States. Toho is releasing the film in Japan before its North American opening, The Hollywood Reporter reported in January. Variety also notes that it is the first Japanese production filmed for Imax, the large-format screen system known for its tall, wide picture.
North American release is set for Friday, November 6, 2026, a date announced in January by both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline. That puts the film in the busy stretch of the autumn calendar, where several big titles compete for the same weekend audience.
Opening numbers are estimates until the studio confirms actual ticket sales on Monday. For a franchise that has grown from a single Japanese film into a major cinema draw, the weekend will show how far fans will follow it to the multiplex.
