TL;DR: Godzilla Minus Zero opened at No. 1 at the North American box office with $30.6 million over November 6-8, 2026, according to Box Office Mojo’s final figures (studio estimates on Sunday had it at $31.6 million). Boxoffice Pro calls it the biggest opening ever for a foreign-language live-action film in the domestic market. Warner Bros.’ animated The Cat in the Hat was second with $20.0 million, the lowest debut yet for a Dr. Seuss feature, while Angel Studios’ Drummer Boy ($9.4M) and Sony’s Ramayana ($8.9M) rounded out a busy weekend that totaled about $121.7 million.
The Godzilla Minus Zero box office debut was the story of the first full weekend of November. Toho’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One didn’t just beat its predecessor; it nearly tripled that film’s opening and pushed last week’s leader, A24’s You Can See Everything, down to fifth. Here are the numbers, the context and what’s coming next.
Weekend box office top 10 (November 6-8, 2026)
These are the final domestic (US and Canada) weekend grosses reported by Box Office Mojo. Stray Kids’ figure was still marked as an estimate.
| Rank | Film | Weekend gross | Domestic total | Distributor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Godzilla Minus Zero (new) | $30.59M | $30.59M | GKIDS |
| 2 | The Cat in the Hat (new) | $20.00M | $20.00M | Warner Bros. |
| 3 | Drummer Boy (new) | $9.42M | $9.42M | Angel |
| 4 | Ramayana (new) | $8.94M | $8.94M | Sony Pictures Releasing |
| 5 | You Can See Everything | $8.44M | $79.38M | A24 |
| 6 | Wildwood | $7.21M | $40.05M | Fathom (per Boxoffice Pro) |
| 7 | Clayface | $6.73M | $56.66M | Warner Bros. |
| 8 | Wild Horse Nine (new) | $5.91M | $5.91M | Searchlight Pictures |
| 9 | Stray Kids World Tour ‘Run It’ Live Viewing (new) | $3.70M (est.) | $3.70M | Trafalgar Releasing |
| 10 | Wicker | $3.41M | $19.95M | Black Bear |
Godzilla Minus Zero makes history
GKIDS released the film on 3,254 screens, and the opening was big enough to set a record. According to Boxoffice Pro, it’s the biggest debut for a foreign-language live-action film in domestic box office history, passing the $17.8 million opening of 2004’s wuxia epic Hero. For comparison, Godzilla Minus One opened to $11.4 million in North America in 2023 and finished with $57.1 million there.
A few other details from Boxoffice Pro’s report:
- Previews: $6.7 million of the opening came from Thursday previews, based on studio estimates.
- IMAX: Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, it’s described as the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX, and the format brought in $12.7 million domestically, about 40% of the opening, from 429 screens.
- Reception: It holds a 90% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and an “A” CinemaScore from audiences.
- Global: It opened in more than 100 territories, the first global day-and-date release for a Japanese Godzilla film, for an estimated $63 million worldwide so far. That includes an $8.7 million start in Japan, where it opened on November 3, Godzilla’s birthday.
GKIDS’ VP of Distribution, Chance Huskey, said in a statement quoted by Boxoffice Pro that the result came from “a thoughtful campaign by GKIDS and Toho that emphasized the ‘must see’ intensity of the theatrical experience.”
The Cat in the Hat lands softly
Warner Bros. Animation’s CGI take on the Dr. Seuss classic, with Bill Hader voicing the Cat, opened at No. 2 from the weekend’s widest release, 4,003 locations. Box Office Mojo’s final $20.0 million came in below the studio’s $20.5 million Sunday estimate. Boxoffice Pro points out that it’s by far the lowest opening for a Seuss-based theatrical feature:
| Dr. Seuss film | Opening weekend |
|---|---|
| The Lorax (2012) | $70.2M |
| The Grinch (2018) | $67.6M |
| How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) | $55.0M |
| Horton Hears a Who! (2008) | $45.0M |
| The Cat in the Hat (2003) | $38.3M |
| The Cat in the Hat (2026) | $20.0M (final) |
Audiences who showed up liked it, with an “A” CinemaScore, but critics were mixed at 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Overseas it opened to about $10 million across more than 60 markets, with the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia still to come in December. The studio told Boxoffice Pro it expects a midweek boost from the Veterans Day holiday on November 11 (if you’re curious why the holiday is fixed to that date, we explained why Veterans Day is on November 11).
Other notable performances
- Drummer Boy: Angel Studios’ Revolutionary War musical took third with $9.4 million from 2,850 locations, earning an “A” CinemaScore despite a 50% critics score.
- Ramayana: Rise of a Legend: The mythological epic starring Ranbir Kapoor posted $8.9 million from 1,433 theaters, a $6,238 average that was second only to Godzilla Minus Zero in the top five. Boxoffice Pro reports it opened to $32 million in India around Diwali and has about $55.65 million globally.
- Wild Horse Nine: Martin McDonagh’s spy comedy with John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell skipped a platform release and took $5.9 million from 1,100 theaters, a higher per-theater average than The Cat in the Hat.
- Heated Rivalry: A theatrical release of Season 1 episodes of the HBO series made a surprising $1.42 million from 945 theaters.
- Club Kid: A24’s limited release earned $403,475 from just 6 theaters, the best average of the weekend at about $67,245 per location.
- I Play Rocky: The Sylvester Stallone biopic from Peter Farrelly started with $337,465 from 7 theaters ahead of a planned wide expansion on November 20.
Holdovers: You Can See Everything slips to fifth
After leading the Halloween weekend box office, A24’s You Can See Everything fell 26.2% to $8.4 million and has now earned $79.4 million domestically. Clayface, which opened at No. 1 in October, dropped 38.8% to $6.7 million for a $56.7 million total. Street Fighter added $2.1 million to reach $57.4 million.
Overall, Boxoffice Pro puts the weekend at about $121.7 million, up 74.4% from the previous weekend and 39.6% ahead of the same weekend in 2025.
What’s next at the box office
According to Boxoffice Pro, Sony’s Ghost Soldier, starring Jim Caviezel, opens on Veterans Day. The following weekend brings Paramount’s Ebenezer with Johnny Depp, MGM’s heist film How to Rob a Bank with Nicholas Hoult from director David Leitch, and James Gray’s crime drama Paper Tiger with Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller. Whether Godzilla Minus Zero can hold off that crowd for a second weekend at No. 1 is the big question.
Sources
- Box Office Mojo: Domestic 2026 Weekend 45
- Boxoffice Pro: Godzilla Minus Zero Explodes to Number One
- The Numbers: Daily domestic box office chart
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