5 Reasons Why Godzilla Minus Zero Ruled The Box Office

The King of the Monsters is back on top of the box office. Director Takashhi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” stomped into theaters over the weekend and it made quite the impact. Given that “Godzilla Minus One” was officially the first movie in the franchise to win an Oscar, the pressure was on for the sequel. It’s safe to say that Yamazaki delivered.

Released by Toho and GKIDS, “Godzilla Minus Zero” opened to $30.5 million domestically to go with $31.4 million internationally for a $61.9 million global debut. That’s the biggest opening weekend ever for a live-action foreign-language movie in North America, topping Jet Li’s “Hero” ($17.8 million). It’s also the biggest global opening for a Japanese “Godzilla” movie. Since we’re talking about a 72-year-old franchise, that’s pretty darn good.

For context, “Minus One” opened to $11.4 million en route to $114 million worldwide. The fact that the sequel opened nearly three times higher is staggering. Yes, this movie carries a bigger budget, but bigger is relative. It’s still believed to be in the $20 million range, which is hard to believe but makes this instantly profitable for all involved.

So, what went right here? How did Toho manage to turn this into a massive breakout sequel? How did Yamazaki manage to live up to such high expectations? We’re going to look at the biggest reasons why “Godzilla Minus Zero” ruled the box office on its opening weekend. Let’s get into it.

Having critics on a movie’s side certainly never hurts. Having critics and audiences on a movie’s side? That’s when good things can really start to happen. And much like “Minus One” before it, “Godzilla Minus Zero” has proved to be a real crowd-pleaser through and through.

The sequel currently holds a stellar 90% critical approval rating to go with an outstanding 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It also earned an A CinemaScore, which bodes very well for word of mouth in the coming weeks. A big opening weekend is one thing, but “Godzilla Minus One” became fall 2023’s unexpected box office hero thanks to excellent legs driven by real-world buzz from moviegoers. It looks like something similar is in store this time around, only much bigger.

Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up takes place two years after the events of “Minus One,” bringing back much of the same human cast. A new threat in the form of King Ghidorah emerges, plunging Japan into chaos once more, leading to an epic monster bash with Godzilla himself.

/Film’s Jeremy Mathai said “Godzilla Minus Zero” is “bigger” and “badder” but “not quite better” in his review. Whether or not one necessarily thinks the sequel is better than its predecessor is a conversation for another time, but it at the very least appears to be satisfying the intended audience. Almost nobody seems to be leaving theaters disappointed. That matters more for the moment than how we, as a society, may ultimately rank these movies in the future.

“Godzilla” has been around as a franchise for more than 70 years. The big lizard is a truly enduring cinematic icon unlike any other. The past few years, in particular though, have been shockingly fruitful. We’re truly living in the golden age of “Godzilla.” This recent surge in the character’s popularity has also brought a lot of new fans on board. In particular, the Japanese movies in the series have been opened up to a much wider audience thanks almost exclusively to “Godzilla Minus One.”

This franchise contains multitudes. A lot of people grew up engaging with the Toho movies passively, perhaps seeing something like “Godzilla vs. Mothra” on TV. But “Godzilla Minus One” became the highest-grossing Japanese “Godzilla” movie ever because it was, quite frankly, one of the greatest movies in the history of this cherished series. It was too good to be ignored and people who only passively engaged with the previous movies discovered something to love.

“Minus One” opened Western audiences up to Japanese “Godzilla” movies more than ever before. Yes, the MonsterVerse movies like “Godzilla vs. Kong” have been very successful in North America, but engagement with these Japanese-language entries is now happening on another, much larger level. The fact that “Godzilla Minus Zero” made nearly three times what its predecessor did on opening weekend speaks to that.

Come what may in the weeks andmonths ahead, there’s no question that this movie’s breakout success is a direct result of “Minus One” opening up this corner of the franchise to a much wider audience globally.

IMAX has proved that it’s more important to the box office than ever before time and time again in recent years. Hollywood studios literally plan their biggest releases around the availability of those premium format screens because those higher ticket prices add a lot to the bottom line. Movies like Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” among many others, made a great deal of extra cash thanks to IMAX. The same can now be said for “Godzilla Minus Zero.”

According to a press release, the sequel opened to $21.3 million worldwide on IMAX screens, representing the biggest IMAX global opening ever for a Japanese film. Even more impressive? IMAX screens delivered around 34% of the movie’s global opening on less than 1% of total screens. Toho benefited greatly from those screens this time around.

But that’s only part of the equation. “Minus Zero” earned the “must-see in theaters” label, becoming a true cinematic event. IMAX isn’t the only game in town as far as premium formats go; 4DX, Cinemark XD, and Dolby Cinema screens were also packed out across North America and the rest of the world. Comparing Dolby Cinema to IMAX and how these formats differ isn’t important to this conversation. All of these formats warrant higher ticket prices, which audiences were clearly happy to pay in this particular case. That played a big role in driving the record-breaking opening.

“Godzilla Minus One” benefited greatly from an early November release date, and “Godzilla Minus Zero” has arrived three years later in a similar spot on the calendar. GKIDS and Toho went with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” line of thinking with the scheduling, and it’s tough to argue with the results. This was the absolute perfect spot on the calendar for this movie.

There is often a bit of a lull at the box office in early November. There’s the post-Halloween horror hangover and studios are generally holding back their biggest, best stuff for the Thanksgiving corridor. “Minus Zero” opened against “The Cat in the Hat,” which flopped with $20.5 million, and Angel’s “Drummer Boy,” which was non-threatening at $9.3 million. Looking ahead, “Ebenezer” may top the box office this upcoming weekend, but it’s also going for a very different audience.

A big threat doesn’t emerge until “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” on November 20, when “Godzilla” will already be three weekends in. Sure, once Thanksgiving arrives with “Focker In-Law” and Disney’s “Hexed” both opening, competition will be more fierce but it’s easy to see an R-rated monster movie still serving as solid counterprogramming throughout the entire month.

“Godzilla” has been broadly popular as a franchise ever since its inception. Like any long running franchise though, it’s had some peaks and valleys. Right now? It’s at an unquestioned peak. So much so that it’s easy to make the argument that Godzilla is one of our most important modern movie stars. That may sound silly, but it’s no less true.

In the 2020s, few real-life movie stars can compete with the King of the Monsters. Even in 2021 when theaters were on life support, “Godzilla vs. Kong” battled the pandemic and won, proving that blockbuster cinema could still exist. It’s arguably one of the most important hits in recent history. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though.

We’ve already mentioned that “Godzilla Minus One” became the biggest Japanese “Godzilla” movie ever, serving as a real shock at the time. Then, just a handful of months later, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” became the highest-grossing “Godzilla” movie ever, pulling in more than $570 million worldwide.

“Godzilla x Kong” pushed the MonsterVerse past the $2 billion mark globally as well. We certainly have to give King Kong his flowers, but Godzilla has been remarkably consistent in the 2020s. Even the re-release of “Shin Godzilla” last year outperformed the movie’s original 2016 release in North America. The character is more popular on a global scale than he’s ever been seven decades after his inception. That can’t be denied and it’s beyond impressive.

“Godzilla Minus Zero” is in theaters now.