Previews beginning Nov. 3 brought Godzilla Minus Zero $6.7 million, reportedly setting a record for U.S. distributor GKIDS. The sequel’s total exceeded Predator: Badlands and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but those films had shorter preview windows. An opening weekend of $30 million or potentially more was projected, compared with Godzilla Minus One’s $11.4 million debut.
Godzilla Minus Zero earned $6.7 million in North American previews beginning Tuesday, Nov. 3, setting a preview record for U.S. distributor GKIDS, Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro reported Nov. 6. That total covers multiple days, not just Thursday-night screenings.
The distributor’s previous high belonged to 2023’s The Boy and the Heron, which collected $2.39 million from Thursday and early-access previews, Deadline reported. Godzilla Minus Zero is the sequel to 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, produced by Toho and distributed in the U.S. by GKIDS, as Variety’s Jordan Moreau described in his report.
The new film’s preview total also surpassed two comparisons in Deadline’s account: Predator: Badlands, which earned $4.8 million from Wednesday and Thursday previews, and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which earned $6.3 million from Thursday previews. The dollar totals favor Minus Zero, but the screening windows differ: Its receipts accumulated beginning Tuesday, giving it a longer collection period than either comparison.
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Its predecessor provides another benchmark. Deadline reported that Godzilla Minus One earned $2.1 million from Wednesday and Thursday showtimes before an $11.4 million opening weekend. Again, that preview window was shorter than Minus Zero’s.
The weekend outlook remained a forecast in the Nov. 6 reporting. Moreau projected a $30 million opening for Godzilla Minus Zero, enough to beat the weekend’s fellow newcomers. D’Alessandro’s updated assessment was more bullish: A $30 million opening had been considered the high end heading into the weekend, he wrote, but now looked like the low end.
