Everyone’s favorite kaiju returns to the box office.
“Godzilla Minus Zero,” the sequel to 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One,” earned $6.7 million in previews. The Japanese film is expected to beat its competitors at the box office this weekend with a $30 million opening. That’s more than double the $11.4 million opening of “Godzilla Minus One” three years ago. The first film, also written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, grossed $57 domestically, becoming the biggest live-action Japanese film in North America and $113 million worldwide. It also took home the surprise visual effects Oscar, beating out big-budget CGI shows like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning,” “Napoleon” and “The Creator.”
Yamazaki’s sequel continues to set records for the monster series. “Godzilla Minus Zero” is also the first Japanese film ever made for Imax, where it is expected to outperform as large premium formats have exploded this year thanks to “The Odyssey.” The sequel, produced by the Japanese company Toho and distributed in the United States by GKids, takes place two years after “Minus One”, with the return of Godzilla and the arrival of a new monster.
The other new films this weekend won’t live up to Godzilla. The new version from Warner Bros. Animated “The Cat in the Hat,” starring Bill Hader, grossed $1 million in previews and is expected to come in second with $20 million. Director Martin McDonagh’s dark buddy comedy “Wild Horse Nine,” starring Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich, has grossed $900,000 in previews and is on track to earn $4 million to $7 million in limited release. Finally, the Indian epic “Ramayana: Rise of a Legend,” released by Sony in North America, grossed $3.5 million in its Thursday opening and Wednesday previews and is expected to open with $6 million.
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