Godzilla Minus Zero Smashes Japan’s Live-Action Opening-Day Record

Morning News · Wednesday 4 November 2026

Godzilla is back on top in Japan: Godzilla Minus Zero took 910 million yen on its opening day, the biggest first day ever for a live-action film there, two days before it reaches UK cinemas. Also this morning: Blumhouse and Atomic Monster settle on a new name, Isabelle Fuhrman leads the sci-fi thriller Heartache, Booboo Stewart and Milo Hutton board E. F. Benson horror The Thing in the Hall, Katee Sackhoff joins post-apocalyptic sci-fi Future Tense, DC confirms Mason Thames as Dick Grayson, and Sony joins Lionsgate’s live-action Naruto.

The News That Matters

Godzilla Minus Zero breaks Japan’s live-action opening-day record

• What happened: Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero opened in Japan on Tuesday 3 November and took 910 million yen on its first day, with more than 590,000 admissions. Eiga Natalie, Cinema Today and Nikkan Sports all report it as the biggest opening day ever for a live-action film in Japan, Japanese or foreign
• Against Minus One: The first day ran at 201% of Godzilla Minus One’s. That film finished on 7.65 billion yen, and Cinema Today says a 10 billion yen total, a first for the series, is now within reach
• Opening day: Yamazaki attended a stage greeting in Tokyo with stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe. The film is set two years after Godzilla’s attack on postwar Japan in Minus One, and opens in North America on Friday
• UK availability: IMAX previews in UK cinemas began on 3 November; in UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 6 November

Minus One won an Oscar for its effects on a fraction of a Hollywood budget, and this start suggests Japanese audiences trust Yamazaki completely. Why the film matters beyond Japan is in our Godzilla Minus Zero preview.

Blumhouse and Atomic Monster rename their horror powerhouse Blumhouse Atomic

• What happened: Two years after merging, Jason Blum’s Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster have renamed their combined company Blumhouse Atomic, Deadline and Variety reported. Both will carry on as separate production labels, each with its own film and TV teams
• What they said: “Blumhouse Atomic is a natural evolution of what we’ve built together,” Blum said, adding that bringing Saw back to Wan, “with a new chapter on the way”, shows what the pairing can do. “The future of horror comes from new voices,” said Wan
• The numbers: The company says the merger has generated 2.5 billion dollars at the global box office, and its films have passed 1 billion dollars in cinemas this year alone, led by Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parsons’ Backrooms. Its 2027 slate includes The Exorcist: Martyrs, Paranormal Activity, Molepeople and Blair Witch Project
• UK availability: A company announcement, not a release; no UK date applies

A tidier name for the busiest horror house in the business. Backrooms, the YouTube-born hit that helped make its year, is reviewed in our Backrooms Super Review.

Orphan’s Isabelle Fuhrman leads near-future sci-fi thriller Heartache

• What happened: Isabelle Fuhrman, star of the Orphan films, is leading Heartache, a sci-fi thriller now shooting in Massachusetts from first-time feature director Beth Fletcher, Deadline reported
• The story: A woman is determined to find love in a near-future world where heartbreak has become lethal, and her search for intimacy becomes tangled with obsession and control. “I was excited to create a world in which it’s safer to be alone, to tell the story of what we’ll risk to stay together,” Fletcher said
• Who’s making it: Fuhrman is also an executive producer. Page 8 Pictures and Circa 1888, the company behind Mass, are producing
• UK availability: Filming now; UK date not yet confirmed

A premise where a broken heart can actually kill you is a sharp hook, and Fuhrman has long been better than the genre material she is offered.

Booboo Stewart and Milo Hutton board E. F. Benson horror The Thing in the Hall

• What happened: Milo Hutton (The Night Agent), Booboo Stewart (the Twilight films) and KaDee Strickland (Private Practice) have joined The Thing in the Hall, a psychological horror now shooting in Los Angeles, Deadline and Bloody Disgusting reported
• The story: Based on E. F. Benson’s short story, it follows a psychology graduate student (Stewart) who moves into the isolated home of his old friend (Hutton) and is drawn into his experiments in spiritualism. Strickland plays the defence lawyer who investigates his account after a fatal incident
• Who’s making it: It is the first feature from writer and director Logan Kishi, whose Darkbox Entertainment is producing
• UK availability: Filming now; UK date not yet confirmed

Benson, the Edwardian master of the English ghost story, is rarely adapted for the screen, so a full feature from one of his tales is welcome.

Katee Sackhoff and Mekhi Phifer lead post-apocalyptic sci-fi Future Tense

• What happened: Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile) and Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff lead Future Tense, which has recently wrapped filming in Arizona, Deadline reported. Mark Dacascos and John Hennigan also star
• The story: Set in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world, it follows a conflicted interrogator torn between loyalty to a ruthless regime and an unlikely alliance with a captured rebel commander
• Who’s making it: Josh Tessier (The Walking Dead: Webisodes) directs from a script he wrote with Michael Edwards and Steven Smith, for Whiskey Panda Studios with Jaguar Crest Studios
• UK availability: Filming has wrapped; UK date not yet confirmed

Sackhoff remains one of sci-fi’s most dependable faces, from Starbuck to Bo-Katan, and an interrogation-room two-hander is a smart fit for a lean genre film.

DC Studios confirms Mason Thames as Dick Grayson in Dynamic Duo

• What happened: DC Studios co-chairman Peter Safran has confirmed that Mason Thames, star of The Black Phone and How to Train Your Dragon, will voice Dick Grayson, the first Robin, in the animated film Dynamic Duo, following reports in September. “Mason always wanted to be Dick Grayson,” Safran told Collider
• The film: It follows Batman’s first two Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, and is being made by Swaybox Studios with a mix of puppetry, miniatures, stop-motion and computer imagery. Arthur Mintz directs. Logan Kim, Lee Pace and Steve Buscemi are also reported in the voice cast
• UK availability: Due 22 September 2028 (US date); UK date not yet confirmed

A Robin film told through puppets and miniatures is one of the stranger bets on DC’s slate. For DC in a much darker mood, read our Clayface Super Review.

Sony joins Lionsgate on Destin Daniel Cretton’s live-action Naruto

• What happened: Lionsgate has officially greenlit its live-action Naruto and brought in Sony Pictures to co-finance the film and handle international distribution, Deadline and UPI reported. Lionsgate leads production and handles the US release
• Who’s making it: Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, writes and directs. Masashi Kishimoto, who created the manga, is reported to be closely involved, and Avi Arad produces. Cameras roll in spring 2027
• What they said: Lionsgate’s Adam Fogelson said the studios want “a truly global cinematic event that stays true to what millions of existing fans love”
• UK availability: No release date; UK date not yet confirmed. Sony will handle the UK release

Kishimoto’s manga has sold more than 250 million copies, so the pressure is on. For a live-action anime adaptation that got it right, see our 5 Centimeters per Second Super Review.

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