Godzilla Minus Zero dominates US box office with record-breaking opening

Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus Zero is dominating the North American box office, earning $14.5 million by Friday and projected to reach $32 million for the weekend, potentially setting a record for the highest live-action foreign-language opening in the US. Early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with a 90 percent critic score and 96 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a 4.1 average on Letterboxd and a 74 Metacritic score. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival in September and is set in 1949, two years after the events of its predecessor. The sequel follows Godzilla Minus One, which became the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film in North America and won the franchise's first Oscar for visual effects. Godzilla Minus Zero is the first in the series to receive an R rating and the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX screens.