Godzilla Minus Zero crushed expectations with a strong $63 million in its opening weekend at the global box office.

Director Takashi Yamazaki's Minus One sequel performed in theaters with an estimated $31.6 million domestically and $31.4 million internationally. That's at least a few stories above distributor domestic projections, which had Godzilla propped up to open in the mid-to-low $20 million range (via The Hollywood Reporter), securing its title as the biggest opening for a live-action foreign language film ever.

"War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus," an official description said. "Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here."

Where its predecessor focused on one lone pilot named Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who found himself caught in the middle of post-war Japan's first run-in with Godzilla, Godzilla Minus Zero turned the focus to a new, otherworldly threat: King Ghidorah . Toho has mostly done its best to keep the classic kaiju antagonist's design a secret in the lead-up to the sequel's release, so don't worry, we won't spoil anything here. Although images and even shoddy theater recordings have polluted the internet in the few days since the film's release, the Godzilla vs. Ghidorah rematch almost certainly played a part in encouraging audiences to buy a ticket early.

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