Japan's Godzilla Minus Zero roared to first place in the North American box office over the weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday (Nov 8), gobbling up US$31.6mil (RM128.27 in sales on its opening weekend.
Set in 1949 as postwar Japan looks to rebuild, the film sees a new threat emerge: a giant three-headed dragon-like monster called King Ghidorah.
Enter Godzilla – believed defeated in the 2023 Godzilla Minus One, but radioactively regenerated – who takes on the three-headed beast with at least some human assistance.
"This weekend's opening takes the Japanese production to a new level – it's nearly three times the previous opening in Dec 2023," veteran industry analyst David A. Gross wrote.
Godzilla in this making is the same iconic beast that many North American viewers know from the 1998 Sony Pictures film, but he exists in a different storyline with different producers.
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus Zero is produced by Japan's Toho and distributed in North America by GKIDS.
In second place sat a far-less scary beast: The Cat in the Hat.
The legendary Dr Seuss feline brought in an estimated US$20.5mil (RM83.21) in its opening weekend in the latest instalment distributed by Warner Bros. – AFP
