Godzilla is back, and Japan came out to see him in huge numbers. “Godzilla Minus Zero”, the new film from director Takashi Yamazaki, made 910 million yen (about $5.7 million) on its first day in Japanese cinemas.
Toho, the studio behind Godzilla, says that is the biggest opening day ever for a live-action film in Japan. The record counts both Japanese and foreign films. About 590,000 people bought a ticket on that first day.
A big day for a big monster
The film opened on Tuesday, 3 November. The date was picked on purpose. Fans call 3 November “Godzilla Day”, because the very first Godzilla film came out on that day in 1954. It is also a national holiday in Japan, so many people had the day off.
It is the best opening day any Godzilla film has had in Japan. The first-day money is about twice what “Godzilla Minus One” made on its first day in 2023.
The sequel to an Oscar winner
“Minus Zero” follows straight on from “Godzilla Minus One”. That film was a surprise hit around the world, and in 2024 it won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Yamazaki wrote and directed both films, and he also led the visual effects work again. Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe come back in their roles from the first film. The new story is set in 1949, and this time Godzilla has to face King Ghidorah, the golden monster with three heads.
It is also the first Japanese film made to the standard that lets it say “filmed for IMAX”.
Next stop, the rest of the world
The film had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on 26 September. Now it is going out to cinemas in many countries in the same week.
It opens in the United States and Canada on Friday, 6 November, released by GKIDS. It also arrives this week in cinemas across Europe, Latin America and Australia, with more dates to come.
Our take
Godzilla is more than 70 years old, and he is still breaking records. The last film showed that a smaller Japanese film could win over fans everywhere, and people clearly wanted more.
A strong first day is a good start, but the weekend numbers will tell us more. If the rest of the world is as excited as Japan, this could be the biggest Godzilla film yet.
Are you going to see “Godzilla Minus Zero” in the cinema? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Takashi Yamazaki at the New York Film Festival 2026 by Dodoeggs (CC BY-SA 4.0); the Godzilla head in Shinjuku, Tokyo, by Stephen Kelly (CC BY 2.0); Takashi Yamazaki at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2023 by Dick Thomas Johnson (CC BY 2.0); Godzilla Square in Hibiya, Tokyo, by Wpcpey (CC BY-SA 4.0).
