Godzilla Minus Zero opens at $63 million worldwide

Godzilla Minus Zero led the worldwide box office over the weekend with an estimated $63 million opening, according to industry reports. The Japanese production also ranked first in North America, where its Friday-to-Sunday earnings reached $31.6 million.

Cat in the Hat occupied second place in North America. Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana, released overseas under the title Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, placed fifth despite receiving the widest US release for an Indian film.

Ramayana collected $8.7 million in that market from Friday to Sunday. Its longer opening-weekend total there stood at $12.2 million, while the comparable three-day figure put the Japanese film's earnings 260 per cent higher.

Worldwide collections and production costs

Reports put Ramayana's four-day global opening at approximately $55 million, or about Rs 500 crore. India accounted for over $30 million of that figure, with domestic gross collections of roughly Rs 290 crore.

Godzilla Minus Zero achieved its opening without a South Asian release. Reports attributed the delay in its arrival in the region to Ramayana's hold over IMAX screens.

The two films also had substantially different reported production costs. The Japanese feature cost about $19 million, compared with approximately $210 million for Ramayana.

Takashi Yamazaki directed the monster film, which comes from Toho and is distributed in North America by GKIDS. Its story takes place in 1949, with Japan rebuilding after the Second World War.

The narrative brings back Godzilla following the events of the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One. Regenerated through radiation, the creature confronts the three-headed King Ghidorah, with humans providing assistance in the battle.

The new film's worldwide debut was nearly three times the opening recorded by Godzilla Minus One in December 2023, according to the reports.

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