Gkids’ release of Toho’s Godzilla Minus Zero — now who the heck saw this coming?
In what’s expected to be a slower November, at least stateside, sans a Wicked, a Moana or a Zootopia movie in the marketplace, along comes Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel to the Oscar-winning 2023 Japanese-language, English-subtitled movie with a $25 million-$30 million domestic forecast and another $30M+ abroad from 23 territories, per industry forecasts. All in, it is an estimated global start of around $60M.
But the lizard could get tripped up by the worldwide launch of Indian epic Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, and projects are running wild with anywhere from $30M-$75M+ for the country’s most expensive movie ever (the two-part epic cost a reported $420M-$500M). Note, we’re being conservative. Sony only has select territories abroad including North America. Scroll down for more.
Even if Godzilla Minus Zero has smaller fire than expected and files in the mid-$20M range in North America, that’s the still the biggest opening ever for frosh distributor Gkids, beating its previous high opening for Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron ($13M) in 2023.
In the Godzilla follow-up, winged three-headed beast King Ghidorah wrecks havoc on post-World War II Japan as the humans look to find an ally in Godzilla.
Yesterday, Tuesday, Nov. 3, was Godzilla Day, commemorating when Toho bowed the first movie in theaters in 1954; this year marks the 72nd anniversary. Already, Godzilla Minus Zero has posted a massive $5.7M first day in Japan (¥910 million), exceeding 590,000 attendees. Toho is calling it an opening-day record for a live-action title in Japan (on both a local and foreign basis). We can’t verify that stat exactly, but what we can tell you is that the number is under the first-day opening of July 2025’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (¥1.64 billion, or $11.1M), which was a record opening day in Japan. We’re hearing the Imax opening-day B.O. for Godzilla Minus Zero also bested that of Infinity Castle.
Godzilla Minus Zero‘s first day take in Japan exceeds the first day of Godzilla Minus One by 201%. The expectation is that Godzilla Minus Zero will open to north of $11M, which would be higher than local Japanese hit from earlier this year Kingdom 5 ($9.75M opening weekend, final $42M cume) and Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($9.9M opening weekend, $36.6M final cume). Japanese forecasts have Godzilla Minus Zero projected to final there at north of ¥10B, or $63.2M.
The pic raids Australia, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, UK, Spain and Japan this weekend. Italy and South Korea won’t be going in this opening suite. Japanese movies aren’t given theatrical releases in China.
In U.S./Canada there were Imax fans shows Tuesday as well as today that will be rolled into Thursday previews which begin after 10 a.m. The R-rated movie was made for Imax, and Gkids has booked the title at 3,250 theaters including all, yes, all Imax auditoriums and PLFs. We understand that the marketing budget for the domestic release, which was largely social, was under $10M. The movie is 89% certified fresh with critics.
By comparison, Godzilla Minus One opened to $11.4M in the No. 2 spot during the first weekend of December 2023 and finaled at a great 5x multiple of $57.1M (there was also a black and white print), and $113.9M global ($48.2M of that came from Japan). The pic, made for $10M, won Best VFX at the Oscars in 2024 and received a solid A CinemaScore.
Bill Hader in ‘The Cat in the Hat‘
Warner Bros via YouTube
Warner Bros Pictures Animation has its first theatrical release under division boss Bill Damaschke in the feature animated take of Dr. Seuss’ all-time classic The Cat in the Hat, which is looking at around $20M give or take at the domestic box office at 4,000 theaters including 3D, PLFs, motion seats and Dolby Cinema. The last time we saw the Cat in the Hat, Universal unleashed him as a live-action movie with Mike Myers in the title role. The movie opened to $38.3M domestic and finaled at $101M U.S./Canada and $134M worldwide, but it was considered a dud with a $109M production cost and 11% RT with critics and a B- CinemaScore (quite low for a family movie).
The film will receive a staggered offshore release which is par for the course for an animated family title during the holidays. Sixty territories are going this weekend in 17,000 screens, specifically Mexico, Spain, Italy, Korea and China. The UK is going on December 4, France on December 9, Germany on December 10, Japan on Christmas Day and Australia/New Zealand on December 31.
Angel Studios has the colonial-set movie Drummer Boy at 2,840 theaters and eyeing around mid-single digits. We hear it has around $3M in presales. The movie directed by Ben Smallbone and Joel David Smallbone follows a young drummer boy, an enslaved woman and a divided family in search of freedom. Through battle and loss, music carries hope in a deeply human story of faith and forgiveness. Previews start Thursday after 11:30 a.m.
Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight is bowing Martin McDonagh’s R-rated political comedy Wild Horse Nine at 1,100 theaters per Rentrak with a forecast of $4M-$6M. The pic starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell follows two CIA agents on trust-testing mission to Easter Island on the precipice of revolution in 1973 Chile. Malkovich won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor out of the pic’s Venice Film Festival world premiere. McDonagh is up for screenplay and Malkovich outstanding lead performance at the Gotham Awards. Previews start Thursday after 2 p.m.
Searchlight held early access screenings on October 30 in the top 50 markets at 400 theaters. The studio teamed with the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA for exclusive, limited 35mm screenings. Rotten Tomatoes critical score is excellent at 94% certified fresh.
‘Ramayana’
Prime Focus
Sony is getting into the Indian-Hindi feature business with the Diwali-timed theatrical release of Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, which opens Thursday. Based on the epic poem Ramayana by Valmiki, pic follows the life and trials of Prince Rama. The first part of the Nitesh Tiwari-directed and co-written movie is looking at $6M over four days stateside, in line with comparable releases such as Kalki 2898 AD ($5.6M), Devara Part 1 ($5.6M) and Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2 ($5M). Previews today began at 3 p.m. in 1,300 locations, making it the widest North American theatrical release for an Indian movie. The pic will be playing in Imax and 3D. Sony has select territories (they aren’t handling India); the movie is expected to do another $6M abroad, where the Culver City studio is releasing it. Ten reviews are at 40% Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a distribution deal for Sony.