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Godzilla Minus Zero is the No. 1 movie in America. Takashi Yamazaki’s R-rated, Japanese-language sequel opened to an estimated $31.6 million in North America and has already grossed $63 million worldwide. It’s the biggest debut in GKIDS history, with IMAX screens alone accounting for $12.7 million. That’s more than Godzilla Minus One made across all North American theaters on its opening weekend in 2023, when it earned $11.4 million.
Here’s the other record Godzilla just broke. For 22 years, Zhang Yimou’s Hero held the biggest domestic opening for a live-action, non-English-language film produced outside the U.S. That Jet Li movie opened to $17.8 million in 2004. Minus Zero cleared it by nearly $14 million.
If you read my editorial over the weekend, you know how much I love this movie. Yamazaki made a behemoth of a sequel that delivers everything I want out of an IMAX ticket. Five minutes in, I was already wondering where the hell America’s movies like this went. He gives you time with the Shikishima family, lets you sit with what they’ve survived, and knows exactly how long to hold a shot when Godzilla finally appears. I felt something watching this that I’ve been missing at the movies for a long time. Apparently, a whole lot of people wanted to see it on the biggest screen they could find, too.
Godzilla Minus One won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Could Minus Zero do it again? And after giving King Ghidorah a new origin, who else from Godzilla’s rogues’ gallery would Yamazaki want a crack at? He addressed the possibility of a third film earlier this month. “If Toho came to me with another offer to explore this world even further, I’d probably say yes.” Somebody at Toho, please make that call.
Elsewhere, Clayface has crossed $100 million worldwide. When it opened, I figured it could finish somewhere around $80–100 million globally. Turns out I was low. The movie pulled in an estimated $6.6 million domestically in its third weekend, down just 39%, bringing its North American total to $56 million.
I thought a $24 million domestic opening was pretty damn good for a $40 million body horror movie about Clayface. What I like even more is that people are still buying tickets a week after Halloween. I want DC to keep taking chances on this side of its comics, and with Evil Dead Wrath filmmaker Francis Galluppi developing a new Constantine movie, there’s already another one I want to see.
Meanwhile, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has surpassed $400 million worldwide and is now on digital, with the opening nine minutes available to watch. Here’s food for thought: Johannes Roberts’ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City earned about $42 million worldwide during its entire pandemic-era run. Cregger’s movie made $60.2 million in North America alone on opening weekend.
Did everybody suddenly discover the Resident Evil games in the last five years? The fans were already there. What Cregger gave them was a movie they could drag a friend to. You can walk in knowing absolutely nothing about Umbrella and understand why a guy delivering a package picked a really bad night to go to work. I hope studios remember that the next time a video game adaptation tanks and somebody decides the problem is the game. It’s why I’m glad Resident Evil producer Roy Lee is involved in a fresh take on Silent Hill. I’d still buy a ticket to a great Silent Hill movie. I bet a lot of you would, too.
Categorized:Box Office News