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Godzilla Minus Zero Sets Opening Day Record in Japan

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Entertainment Desk

In Short: Godzilla Minus Zero, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, grossed 910 million yen ($5.75 million) on its opening day in Japan, breaking the record for highest opening day earnings for a live-action film in the country.

Godzilla Minus Zero, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, grossed 910 million yen ($5.75 million) on its opening day in Japan, breaking the record for highest opening day earnings for a live-action film in the country.

The film, which opened on November 3, 2026, coinciding with 'Godzilla Day' in Japan, celebrated the anniversary of the first Godzilla film's release in 1954.

Yamazaki, who also served as screenwriter and VFX supervisor, returned for the sequel, which is set in 1949, two years after the events of Godzilla Minus One.

Godzilla Minus Zero's opening day earnings were 201% higher than those of its predecessor, Godzilla Minus One, which also opened on November 3, 2023.

Godzilla Minus Zero reunites the Shikishima family—Kōichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), Noriko (Minami Hamabe), and their adopted child Akiko (Sae Nagatani)—as they face a new threat two years after the nuclear-addled carnage of One.

Godzilla Minus Zero is the 39th film in the Godzilla franchise and the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX, expanding to a 1:43:1 aspect ratio to showcase its visual effects.

The film's opening day success in Japan is a testament to the enduring popularity of the Godzilla franchise and Yamazaki's vision for the series.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• Godzilla Minus Zero ’s trailer is the perfect tee up for the film’s festival debut on September 26 at the New York Film Festival.

What's still developing

• "really dig deeper and even explore some uncomfortable subjects."
• “Godzilla Minus Zero” is set in 1949, and it opens with a startling sequence in which Ghidorah, with only one head (this will change), shows up in the city of Matsumoto and destroys it.
• 6), there are two oversize mystic beasts: Godzilla, the original kaiju (the character is now 72 years old, proving that 72 is the new awesome), and King Ghidorah, the dragon hydra who made his first appearance in the 1964 kaiju classic “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.” Each is a formidable creature, though in both cases it’s more than a matter of epic stomp or gargantuan wing power.
• Godzilla is back once again to stomp around and cause chaos, and we love to see it!
• The 37th film in the long-running Godzilla franchise, some may have expected it to come and go like many Godzilla films before it, but there was something special about this entry.
• Although we don't get visual confirmation, we hear a roar that sounds an awful lot like King Ghidorah, a three-headed dragon who has often been presented as Godzilla's greatest rival.
• “The energy was simply extraordinary,” Kamiki said.
• Lucky for Japan, and for all of the other nations that are still living under the delusion that none of this monster business will ever be their problem, at least one of the key heroes who “defeated” Godzilla in 1947 has been preparing his people for the possibility of another kaiju attack.
• With its new trailer and expanded cast now revealed, Godzilla Minus Zero is shaping up to be one of the year's biggest Japanese theatrical releases.
• The new film returns to a Japan still recovering from the devastation caused by Godzilla, before the monster emerges once again.
• PLOT: Set two years after the events of Godzilla Minus One, another Kaiju wreaks havoc in Japan while the country tirelessly rebuilds, and the Shikishima family once again faces danger as Godzilla reemerges.
• REVIEW: 2023’s Godzilla Minus One shattered new ground, literally and figuratively, as the film secured the 2024 Oscar for Best Visual Effects, the first Oscar win in Godzilla’s 70-plus-year history.

Sources

• Anime News Networklink
• Deadlinelink
• Timelink
• Varietylink
• Nerdistlink
• Movieweblink
• Varietylink
• Turkiyetodaylink
• Avclublink
• IndieWirelink
• Tribunelink
• Joblolink
• Polygonlink
• Theplaylistlink
• WarpBeat — background on Godzilla Minus Zero Premieres at Tokyo Film Festival link
• Wikipedia — background on Godzilla Minus Zero link