Godzilla Minus Zero Opens Strongly in the US, Eyes Box-Office Record

Dragon Media News Desk

The week of November 1–7 saw a busy slate of new releases in the US after a subdued previous weekend. From October 30 to November 1, the documentary You Can See Everything led the North American box office with about $10.6 million. Clayface earned $10.4 million. The weekend’s overall North American box office was about $63.8 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

New releases on November 6 included Godzilla Minus Zero, The Cat in the Hat, Drummer Boy, Wild Horse Nine, Jimmy and the Indian epic Ramayana: Rise of a Legend. Godzilla Minus Zero is a Japanese-language science-fiction action film. The Cat in the Hat is an animated family film, while Wild Horse Nine is a political satire thriller. Limited releases included I Play Rocky, Queen at Sea, Being Heumann and Mouse.

Early Friday estimates put Godzilla Minus Zero at $13.5 million, including $6.7 million from preview screenings. It was projected to earn $30 million to $33 million over its opening weekend. If that estimate holds, it could set a record for the biggest US opening weekend by a live-action, non-English-language film. The current record is held by the 2002 Chinese film Hero, which opened with $17.8 million.

Early estimates put The Cat in the Hat at about $5 million and Drummer Boy at $3.8 million on Friday. Their projected weekend earnings were $17 million to $20 million and about $9 million, respectively. These figures, available on November 7, are projections rather than final weekend totals.

Although box-office business was subdued over Halloween weekend, US domestic ticket sales in 2026 were more than 17 percent higher than during the same period last year, approaching $8.5 billion, the Associated Press reported. The rest of the weekend was expected to show how Godzilla Minus Zero and family animation The Cat in the Hat would fare against each other.