WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Japan’s Godzilla Minus Zero roared to first place in the North American box office over the weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday, gobbling up US$31.6 million in sales on its opening weekend.

Set in 1949 as post-war Japan looks to rebuild, the film sees a new threat emerge: A giant three-headed dragon-like monster called King Ghidorah.

Enter Godzilla — believed defeated in the 2023 Godzilla Minus One, but radioactively regenerated — who takes on the three-headed beast with at least some human assistance.

“This weekend’s opening takes the Japanese production to a new level; it’s nearly three times the previous opening in Dec 2023,” veteran industry analyst David A Gross wrote.

Godzilla in this making is the same iconic beast that many North American viewers know from the 1998 Sony Pictures film, but he exists in a different story line with different producers.

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus Zero is produced by Japan’s Toho and distributed in North America by GKIDS.

In second place sat a far-less scary beast: The Cat in the Hat. The legendary Dr Seuss feline brought in an estimated US$20.5 million in its opening weekend in the latest instalment distributed by Warner Bros.

Gross warned that Dr Seuss films don’t typically perform well outside the United States, but may be able to make up for that by earning money on streaming platforms or through television rights.

Marching into third place was Angel Studio’s Drummer Boy, which banged out US$9.3 million at the box office, according to estimates by Exhibitor Relations Co.

The unique film — a combination of historical drama and musical — follows an American soldier and his brother during the Revolutionary war, with the brother marrying an enslaved woman and fighting for the British.

Gross said the film brought in double what would be expected of a similar film on its opening weekend.

“Angel specialises in inspirational stories and they know how to reach this audience,” Gross wrote in his weekly newsletter.

Fourth place went to A24’s You Can See Everything, the biopic that follows convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes in the month before she began an 11-year prison sentence. The film brought in about US$8.9 million over the weekend, bringing its four-week total to an estimated US$79.8 million.

In fifth was Sony’s Ramayana, earning about US$8.7 million on its opening weekend, according to estimates.

Gross noted that it was “one of only five Indian wide releases in the US” over the last three decades.

Rounding out the top 10 were Wildwood (US$7 million),  layface (US$6.7 million), Wild Horse Nine (US$6 million), Wicker (US$3.4 million), and Street Fighter (US$2.2 million).