SUNDAY AM: Toho’s lizard had no plans to be undone by a Hindu deity in a fight at the global box office as Godzilla Minus Zero roared $63M WW over Prime Focus Studio and Sony’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend‘s $55.7M global, the bulk of that gross in India.
Ramayana had good fortune in Europe, where we hear it was No. 1 in the UK and Australia, trampling the Godzilla and Ghidorah, but the monsters reigned in Mexico in the No. 1 spot and most of Latin America (however not Brazil where a local comedy title was No. 1). Godzilla Minus Zero has been raging in Japan where since its Tuesday, Godzilla Day, it has collected 2.7 billion yen or $17M. There will be more updates on Godzilla Minus Zero tomorrow.
Ramayana: Part One collected the bulk of its global in India with $32M, followed by a 4-day take of $12.2M in the U.S. and $11.5M in 37 remaining foreign territories handled by Sony. A press note reads that the first part of a $420M-$500M production is the most watched movie in the world over the Diwali holiday with 11M tickets sold, but there’s nothing to support that stat, so just note it for now. Ramayana: Rise of a Legend was booked on over 10,000 screens in north of 130 countries in 17 dubbed languages.
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For all the pom pom waving here on Ramayana, Lord knows how this movie makes it all its money back because by Hollywood accounting ledger standards a $55.7M global opening on a movie that costs roughly $250M is considered a flop. However, this movie is expected to leg out in India to potentially a 4x or more multiple. Also, the marketing spend on these movies are very thrifty, often as low as $1M worldwide (not counting India). Word of mouth is very easy to spread on Indian features given how close-knit the communities are around the world. And Ramayana here is akin to making a movie about Jesus Christ or even on the level of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Also, there’s a question by sources with knowledge of India’s motion picture industry whether Ramayana cost as much as it did; the VFX reportedly handled by the filmmaker in-house.
Similar to Christmas Eve, Indian audiences head to religious services on the days before Diwali with moviegoing increasing thereafter.
Prince Rama broke local market opening records for a film from India, including the United Kingdom ($3.0M), Thailand($550K), the Netherlands ($240K) and South Africa ($75K).
Ramayana is the second biggest opening for an Indian movie in North America at $12.2M behind Dhurandhar: The Revenge which debuted to $14M back in March.
Other top-performing markets include the United Arab Emirates ($2.2M), Australia ($1.9M), Germany ($625K) and Nepal ($500K).
Upcoming market releases for Ramayana include Indonesia (Nov 11), Hong Kong (Nov 12), Mexico (Nov 12), Central Asia (Nov 12), Brazil (Nov 19), Italy (Nov 19), Ukraine (Nov 19), Hungary (Nov 19), Poland (Nov 20), Argentina (Nov 26), Central America (Nov 26), Colombia (Nov 26), Ecuador (Nov 26), Peru (Nov 26) and Czechia (Nov 26).
With a fight like this between a Prince and reptiles, it’s Imax who benefits the most, collecting $29M combined from largely both movies around the globe.
Godzilla Minus Zero in Imax reaped $21.3M, repping 34% of the pic’s worldwide opening and getting a new record for the biggest Imax global opening for a Japanese film. As we told, PLFs and Imax combined counted a 74% share of the pic’s $31.6M opening. Imax alone in North America repped 40% of the weekend’s ticket sales or $12.7M at 429 screens. Overseas, Godzilla Minus Zero played on 421 screens across 64 markets or $8.6M with Japan leading the way with $4M — easily the highest Imax opening ever in the market.
“With Godzilla Minus Zero, Takashi Yamazaki and our friends at Toho have delivered a tremendous feat of filmmaking with arresting visuals that somehow top its predecessor; we are proud to call this the first Filmed For IMAX release from Japan and delighted fans are overwhelmingly choosing to experience it in on our screens,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “Japan continues to be among the biggest success stories across our global footprint, and we know this historic success will only create further opportunities for filmmaker partnership and network growth in this thriving marketing for cinema.”
The Nitesh Tiwari-directed Ramayana saw $6M from Imax, repping 11% of the title’s global weekend, delivering the biggest global Imax opening ever for an Indian film. The Filmed for Imax release saw $2M in India, which was the biggest Imax opening ever in the market. There was another $1.4M in Imax box office from 32 international markets outside India. North America delivered $2.5M from 53 screens, accounting for a strong 20% of the film’s stateside bow.
The Cat in the Hat (voice: Bill Hader) in ‘The Cat in the Hat’ (2026)
There seems to be shade being thrown around Warner Bros Pictures Animation’s The Cat in the Hat with its high $80M+ production cost after a 10% co-financing (just under $90M) from Domain and a $30.5M global start. It’s not fizzling, it’s just starting off slow, and thank the box office gods the Bill Hader-voiced movie got to a $20.5M start stateside as many worried it would fall into the teens. The pic has a staggered rollout to take advantage of territories during the year-end holidays.
Territory grosses weren’t wild like the cat himself with $10M from 60 territories including Mexico ($1.1M, lower than Elio‘s $1.3M), Italy ($1M, higher than Elio‘s $872K), Spain ($999K, similar to Elio), China ($663K way lower than Elio‘s $2.2M start), Brazil ($541K, lower than Elio‘s $771K), Colombia ($535K), Poland ($422K), UAE ($312K), Ecuador ($280K), Saudi Arabia ($278K), Korea ($220K) and Kazakhstan ($189K).
Why not bigger, particularly stateside? Unlike the Grinch and the Lorax, the Cat in the Hat, despite being Dr. Seuss’ Mickey Mouse if you will, is a tricky character. You would have thought a live-action Mike Myers version back in 2003, after Universal’s 2000 hit The Grinch with Jim Carrey, wouldn’t have been reported as a bomb despite crossing over $100M in North America. This movie a la a Peanuts movie seemed geared toward a younger-skewing audience, and point on, that’s exactly correct with close to 60% under the age of 9 years of age. Beyond a certain age, this isn’t cool, particularly for an older crowd. Also, there was something in the materials that made this feel safe, and not anarchistic rebellion in its comedic tone a la Illumination/20th Century Fox’s 2012 mega-hit The Lorax which opened to $70.2M in North America and ended its run at $214M+ domestic, and close to $349M WW. That movie, to this day, still has Gen Z social media content creators like Juicy Jacob still impersonating the character and delighting fans in public.
John Malkovich in ‘Wild Horse Nine’
Searchlight Pictures / Everett Collection
Searchlight’s Martin McDonagh-written and directed spy comedy caper Wild Horse Nine galloped to $12.6M around the globe in its opening with $6M domestic and $6.6M from 29 territories. The movie has yet to opening in Germany, Spain, Japan, Argentina and smaller Euro and Asian countries.
At $6M, that’s the biggest opening for a McDonagh movie in North America. The John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell movie was the top U.S. movie in New Zealand and the second highest MPA title in Australia, Korea, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Georgia and Chile. In NZ, Australia and Korea, the pic’s opening is above McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin. Weekend comes were UK ($2M), Italy ($1M), France ($700K), Australia ($700K), Netherlands ($500K), Greece ($300K), Belgium ($200K) and Korea ($200K).
McDonagh’s highest grossing movie ever at the box office is his multi Oscar winner Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri which counts $162.7M WW with $108.2M from international alone.
Other shoutouts at the international B.O.:
Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård in ‘Wicker’
Photo courtesy of Black Bear
Black Bear’s Wicker saw a $7M international weekend with $3.35M in North America (-23%) and $3.7M abroad for a running global cume of $29M ($19.9M from U.S./Canada). Wicker opened in five new markets, bringing its release to 14 international territories to date: UK/Ireland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Israel, India, West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, CIS, Ukraine, and Philippines. The grand running foreign cume is $9.15M.
UK’s second weekend posted $1.5M, -33%, at 719 theaters with a total of $5.7M so far. Australia bowed to $918K ahead of Wild Horse Nine, but behind Ramayana and Godzilla Minus Zero. Pic’s start in Oz is +43% ahead of Poor Things, +24% ahead of Wicked Little Letters, and 10% ahead of Sense and Sensibility. Netherlands’ third frame added $109K, -29%, from 81 locations for a running cume of $632K.
Universal began rolling out George Michael – The Faith Tour with $2.1M in 35 territories at 2,060 locations. UK minted $1.3M at 620 screens. The first two days far outgrossed the total runs of previous George Michael and Wham!-adjacent event cinema titles Wham! 10 Days in China and George Michael Freedom Uncut. The overall weekend result is more than double the expansion weekend of Moonage Daydream, more than 3x Becoming Led Zeppelin and in line with Renaissance: Beyonce. Netherlands with $200K debuted in the No. 7 spot, with Imax repping 34% of the weekend. That take is ahead of Metallica: 72 Seasons, more than double Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger and more than 3x Becoming Led Zeppelin. Italy saw $200K in No. 10 above EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert. Denmark was $106K No. 3 in line with Moonage Daydream, above Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger and more than 4x Becoming Led Zeppelin. Poland was $70K above EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert with Belgium posting a No. 8 bow with $61K from a 4-day weekend.