$31.6 million: the monster that just made box office history

Godzilla Minus Zero has stomped its way into the record books.

Takashi Yamazaki's sequel to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One opened with $31.6 million in North America this weekend, according to studio estimates reported by the Associated Press. That's a record debut for a foreign-language film.

It also easily beat the weekend's other big release, Warner Bros.' animated The Cat in the Hat, which opened with $20.5 million.

The record it broke

No live-action foreign-language film has had a bigger opening weekend, unless you count 2004's The Passion of the Christ, which opened with $83.8 million despite its largely Aramaic dialogue, the AP reports. The previous live-action mark belonged to 2004's Hero, with $17.9 million.

Anime has done bigger: last year, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle debuted with $70.6 million.

It got off to a fast start, with $14.5 million on Friday alone, Variety reported.

"This historic opening shows how deeply audiences around the world connect with Godzilla and with Takashi Yamazaki's vision," Toho Global president Koji Ueda said in a statement.

The film, produced by Toho and released in North America by GKIDS, is set in post-World War II Japan, and brings the series back to its Japanese roots just after Godzilla's 72nd birthday. It cost under $20 million to make, and made about $17 million in Japan over the same weekend, according to the AP.

IMAX did a lot of the heavy lifting: the format brought in $21.3 million worldwide, 34% of the total, after an early IMAX-only release on Tuesday.

Audiences loved it, too. It has a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore. Read our Godzilla Minus Zero review.

Its predecessor, Godzilla Minus One, won the Oscar for best visual effects and became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever in the U.S. and Canada, with $57.1 million on a budget under $15 million. Minus Zero is expected to pass that.

A rough weekend for the Cat

For Warner Bros., the news was less happy. The Cat in the Hat, with Bill Hader voicing the Cat, cost $86 million to make and added $10 million overseas. Critics weren't kind, with a 44% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Read our The Cat in the Hat review.

It's the latest attempt to revive the Dr. Seuss character after the 2003 live-action film starring Mike Myers.

Further down the chart, Angel Studios' Revolutionary War musical Drummer Boy surprised with $9.3 million, and Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, opened with $6 million in 1,100 theaters. Sony's Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, the most expensive Indian film ever made, took $8.7 million.

Overall ticket sales were up 96.8% on the slow Halloween weekend, according to Rentrak.

Godzilla won't have the screens to itself for long. Warner Bros. and Legendary release Godzilla x Kong: Supernova in March.