Godzilla Minus Zero Stomps on Expectations With $63 Million Box Office Opening Weekend

Godzilla Minus Zero crushed expectations with a strong $63 million in its opening weekend at the global box office.

Director Takashi Yamazaki's Minus One sequel performed in theaters with an estimated $31.6 million domestically and $31.4 million internationally. That's at least a few stories above distributor domestic projections, which had Godzilla propped up to open in the mid-to-low $20 million range (via The Hollywood Reporter), securing its title as the biggest opening for a live-action foreign language film ever.

"War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus," an official description said. "Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here."

Where its predecessor focused on one lone pilot named Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who found himself caught in …