“Godzilla Minus Zero” had the biggest North American opening weekend of all time for a foreign-language film
Godzilla Minus Zero (2026), North American box office· affirmé le 7 nov. 2026
After the Japanese film “Godzilla Minus Zero” (Toho, released in North America by GKIDS) opened on 6–8 November 2026, a Forbes headline of 7 November called it the “No. 1 all-time foreign-language opening weekend”, and the distributor spoke of an “unprecedented scale for an international film”. Sunday estimates put the opening at $31.6 million and Variety later reported $30.5 million, far above the $17.8 million that the Mandarin-language “Hero” made in its 2004 US debut. The trade press frames the record as one for live-action films: the Japanese-language anime “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” opened to about $70 million in September 2025, and The Hollywood Reporter leaves out “The Passion of the Christ” ($83.8 million, filmed in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin) because it was produced in the US. Whether the claim holds depends on whether animated films count as foreign-language films and whether the figures are adjusted for inflation.
Variety: $30.5 million from 3,254 theaters, the largest North American opening for a live-action foreign-language film
Variety reports $30.5 million, “slightly behind Sunday's estimates of $31.6 million”, which still registers as “the largest opening for a live-action foreign-language film in North America”, ahead of the $17.8 million that “Hero” held. (Variety dates Hero's record to 2002, the year of its Chinese release; it opened in the US in 2004.) Imax screens brought in $12.7 million, about 40% of the total.
The Hollywood Reporter: highest live-action foreign-language opening since “Hero” and GKIDS' best debut ever
Using the $31.6 million weekend estimate, The Hollywood Reporter writes that the film is “being touted as the highest-grossing live-action foreign-language opening” since “Hero” opened to $17.8 million in 2004. It is also the biggest opening for any GKIDS release, ahead of $13 million for “The Boy and the Heron”, and came in well above the distributor's own forecast of a mid-$20 million opening.
Deadline: “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle”, a Japanese anime, opened to $70 million in September 2025
Deadline reported a three-day opening of $70 million from 3,315 theaters on 12–14 September 2025, more than twice the Godzilla figure; The Hollywood Reporter now lists it at $70.6 million. According to EntTelligence, quoted by Deadline, 55% of viewers chose a subtitled screening and 33% a dubbed one. If animated films count, the all-time record belongs to Demon Slayer, and only the qualifier “live-action” makes the Godzilla record true.
Adjusted for consumer prices, the 2004 “Hero” opening is about as big as Godzilla's
Step 1: the US consumer price index (CPI-U, annual average) was 188.9 in 2004 and 313.7 in 2024. Step 2: $17.8 million × 313.7 / 188.9 ≈ $29.6 million in 2024 dollars. Step 3: two more years of inflation at roughly 2.5–3% a year bring this to about $31 million in 2026 dollars, which is level with Godzilla's reported $30.5 million. Anyone can repeat the conversion month by month with the BLS calculator. The record therefore holds clearly in nominal dollars, but adjusted for inflation it is roughly a tie with “Hero”.
