Godzilla Minus Zero is headed for No. 1: $14.5 million on Friday, a record for a foreign-language film, and The Cat in the Hat lands second

The numbers so far

Godzilla Minus Zero opened Friday in 3,254 theaters in North America through GKIDS, Toho's US distributor. It made $14.5 million on Friday, and $6.7 million of that came from Thursday night previews. Saturday's estimates put the weekend at about $32 million. (Variety, Deadline)

To put that in perspective, Godzilla Minus One opened in third place in December 2023 with about $11.4 million, and finished at $57.1 million in the US. Its sequel passed that opening weekend in one day. (Box Office Mojo)

If it holds near $32 million, it will be the biggest North American opening ever for a foreign-language live-action film, beating Hero's $17.8 million from 2004, and only the fourth non-English film to finish first at the US box office, after The Passion of the Christ, Hero and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. These are Saturday estimates; the actual numbers come Monday. (TheWrap)

What it is, and what people think

Takashi Yamazaki wrote and directed it again, and it's set in 1949, two years after Minus One. King Ghidorah is in it. It's rated R for violent and bloody images, runs 2 hours 15 minutes, and it's in Japanese with English subtitles; I couldn't find any theater showing a dub. It's also the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX, which is why the IMAX screenings are selling first. (Wikipedia, Nippon.com review)

Critics and audiences both like it: 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, 74 on Metacritic, and an A CinemaScore from opening night crowds. In Japan it opened Tuesday, on Godzilla's anniversary, with ¥910 million, about $5.75 million, which Toho says is the best opening day ever for a live-action film there. That's a Toho claim; the overall record still belongs to Demon Slayer. (Anime News Network)

The Cat in the Hat: second, and fine

Warner Bros.' animated Cat in the Hat opened in 4,003 theaters with Bill Hader as the Cat, Matt Berry as the goldfish, and Quinta Brunson and Bowen Yang in the cast. It made about $6 million Friday, and estimates for the weekend range from about $17 million to $20 million. That's at the low end of what it was tracking, and well under the $38 million the live-action version opened to in 2003. (Screen Rant, Wikipedia)

Critics were lukewarm, around 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the families who went gave it an A CinemaScore, and that's the number that matters for a kids' movie with Thanksgiving coming. It's rated PG. If you have young kids, it's the easy pick this weekend.

The rest of the weekend

• Drummer Boy (Angel Studios): about $8 million.
• You Can See Everything: about $8 million, after spending last weekend at No. 1, the first non-concert documentary to do that since Fahrenheit 9/11. It's near $73.5 million total.
• Ramayana: Rise of a Legend: about $7 million, the first Indian film filmed for IMAX.
• Wild Horse Nine, Martin McDonagh's new film from Searchlight: about $5.5 million in roughly 1,100 theaters.

Those are Sunday projections from Variety, so the order may shuffle. (Variety, Rotten Tomatoes)

Being Heumann: theaters now, Apple TV next Friday

I listed Being Heumann in Wednesday's watchlist, so a correction on how to see it: it's a movie, not a series, and it opened in select theaters Friday. It streams on Apple TV starting November 13. Siân Heder, who made CODA, directed it, with Ruth Madeley as the disability rights activist Judith Heumann and Mark Ruffalo in the cast. It's about the 1977 sit-in in San Francisco that helped force the government to enforce disability rights law. Reviews are good, 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. (Wikipedia, RogerEbert.com)

My take

If you're going to see Godzilla Minus Zero, see it on the biggest screen near you. It was made for IMAX, and a movie this loud and this sad doesn't work the same on a TV. Don't let the subtitles scare you off; you stop noticing them in ten minutes. Next weekend brings How to Rob a Bank, and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping arrives the weekend after, so Godzilla has about two weeks before the screens get crowded.

Verified November 7, 2026, from Variety, Deadline, TheWrap, Anime News Network, Screen Rant, Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo. Weekend figures are Saturday estimates and will change when actuals come out Monday. Some early reports gave a $14.7 million Friday; Variety and Deadline both say $14.5 million.