Godzilla Minus Zero Takes No. 1 at the Weekend Box Office
Godzilla Minus Zero opened at No. 1 at the North American box office on Friday, earning $14.5 million from 3,254 theaters, according to Variety.
The Japanese monster film is the sequel to 2023's Godzilla Minus One, and it was directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Toho, the Japanese studio behind the Godzilla series, produced it. GKids distributes it in the United States.
The opening weekend runs from Friday through Sunday, so the full total is still to come. Variety projected the film would earn $32 million by Sunday. Deadline reported that a $30 million to $33 million start would be a record for a foreign-language film at the domestic box office. "Domestic" means the United States and Canada, and "foreign-language" means a film made mostly in a language other than English.
Its main rival at the top of the chart is The Cat in the Hat, which took second place with $6 million from 4,003 theaters on Friday. Variety projected it would reach $18.7 million by Sunday. Bill Hader voices the title character, and the film was directed by Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja. The Hollywood Reporter put its production budget at $92 million.
Forecasts before the weekend had pointed to a close race in some form. Tracking, an early estimate built from audience surveys, had put Godzilla Minus Zero at $25 million to $33 million and The Cat in the Hat at $15 million to $22 million, according to Yahoo Entertainment. Both films opened above the low end of those ranges on their Friday numbers, and their Sunday totals will decide how the weekend ends.
Further down the chart, Drummer Boy took third place with $3.39 million from 2,850 theaters on Friday. It was projected to earn $7.9 million by its first Sunday. Ramayana: Rise of a Legend earned $2.4 million on Friday from 1,433 locations and was projected to reach $7.3 million by Sunday. You Can See Everything took in $2.55 million on its fourth Friday from 2,473 theaters. Wild Horse Nine placed fifth with $2.47 million from 1,100 locations.
A note on the numbers: the Friday figures are actual ticket sales reported for that day. The Sunday figures are projections. Studios usually publish Sunday estimates on the day itself, and the official totals for the weekend, called actuals, follow on Monday.
What happens next is set by the Monday actuals and the weeks ahead. Until then, the opening weekend's final shape remains a projection.
