Godzilla Minus Zero opened at the top of the domestic box office over the November 6-8 weekend, earning $30.5 million in the United States and Canada. The result is the best domestic debut ever for a live-action foreign-language film, and it also marks a standout performance for GKids, the distributor that has built its reputation on animated titles. Worldwide, the film opened to $61.9 million, with $31.3 million coming from overseas markets.
The film's strength was not limited to North America. In Japan, where the franchise is rooted, Godzilla Minus Zero opened with 2.7 billion yen, roughly $17 million, a franchise record. The movie also carries a distinction within the long-running series: it is the first Godzilla film to receive an R rating. Audience response has been strong, with a CinemaScore of A and a 90 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Data on the opening crowd shows it skewed heavily male, at 76 percent, with 63 percent of viewers between 18 and 34.
Industry figures put the film's reported budget at about $13 million, a modest cost that suggests it is likely to be profitable. Projections place its domestic total near $80 million over the course of its run, a figure that would represent a significant return on an investment of that size.
The weekend's other major animated release, The Cat in the Hat, underperformed expectations. The film opened with $20 million domestically, below the debuts of earlier Dr. Seuss animated adaptations. Its overseas performance was weaker still, bringing in about $10 million from international markets. The production budget has been reported at $92 million, a figure that makes the soft opening a more serious concern for the studio. The film earned an A CinemaScore and a 48 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, and its audience was reported at 60 percent children under nine. Projections put its domestic run at $60 million to $70 million.
Internationally, the Indian epic Ramayana drew attention with a worldwide opening of $51.9 million, including $32 million from India. The film was reported to have cost $250 million, making it the most expensive non-English film ever produced. Its domestic opening in India ranks second among Indian debuts, behind Dhuranhar 2.
Several other titles rounded out the top of the chart. Drummer Boy, an Angel release, opened to $9.4 million, beating projections although its performance is considered at risk of being front-loaded. Searchlight's Wild Horse Nine debuted wide with $5.9 million, the best wide opening yet for director Martin McDonagh, and it holds a 94 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, prompting talk of awards interest for John Malkovich. A24's You Can See Everything earned $8.4 million over the weekend and has reached $79.3 million domestically. Wildwood took in $7.2 million with a 20 percent hold and is approaching $40 million. Clayface opened to $6.7 million and has a domestic total of $56.6 million.
Taken together, the top 10 films earned $103.7 million, a 41.3 percent increase over the same weekend a year earlier. Seven films cleared the $6 million mark, a sign of broad box office health. Smaller releases also reported results: the Crave series spinoff Heated Rivalry earned $1.4 million from 1,010 Regal theaters, and a spinoff film is planned, while A24's Club Kid took in $403,000 from six theaters, an average of $67,000 per location.