Godzilla Minus Zero has the most sessions in Malaysia in its second week, with 250 in IMAX

Godzilla Minus Zero has 3,366 sessions at 126 Malaysian cinemas from Friday 13 November to Thursday 19 November, more than any other film in the country this week, according to the site's own listings.

Godzilla Minus Zero has 1,000 more sessions than its nearest rival

The count comes from malaysiashowtimes.com's day files for the 7 days from 13 November. The nearest film, Kudrat 1968: High Council, has 2,415 sessions at 123 cinemas over the same days. Ramayana: Rise of a Legend has 2,208 sessions at 113 cinemas for its Tamil version, and Kacau, which opened on Thursday 12 November, has 1,825 at 81.

The Toho sequel is playing at 11 chains: GSC, TGV, FST, Amerin, Mega, Paragon, AE Cinemas, One Cinemas, 10 Star, Grand Cineplex and Dadi.

The first Minus film to get a wide run here

Malay Mail reported in August that Toho Entertainment Asia had set the Malaysian release for 5 November. The paper also explained why that mattered locally: Godzilla Minus One never had a regular nationwide cinema release in Malaysia. It arrived on Netflix Malaysia in June 2024 and reached big screens here only in limited showings at the Japanese Film Festival 2024.

So for many viewers, this sequel is the first chance to see Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla in a local cinema. Malay Mail reports that Yamazaki said in an April social media video that he was determined to make another film fans around the world would love.

The story is set two years after the first film, with Ryunosuke Kamiki back as Koichi Shikishima and Minami Hamabe as Noriko, according to Malay Mail. theSun's review names the new threat as Ghidorah.

Filmed for IMAX, with 250 IMAX sessions this week

According to Variety, Godzilla Minus Zero is the first Japanese production ever filmed for IMAX. In its preview of the North American opening, published on 4 November, Variety projected about US$30 million from 3,254 theatres and expected the film to do especially well in premium large formats.

In Malaysia, the site's listings show 250 IMAX sessions for the week from 13 November, nearly double Ramayana's 129. There are also 119 sessions in 4DX, 39 in BIG, 30 in Onyx, 25 in Infinity and 5 in MAXX. For anyone choosing a format, the IMAX sessions match how the film was shot.

What critics have said

theSun's reviewer, writing on 11 November, finds the monster action bigger and the scale more ambitious than in the first film, but judges the human storyline weaker. The review singles out an early aerial dogfight against Ghidorah. Variety reports that its chief film critic, Owen Gleiberman, called the sequel an "even grander follow-up" to Godzilla Minus One.

Late shows finish after 3.30am

Godzilla Minus Zero is rated 16 and runs 135 minutes. This week 171 sessions start at 11pm or later, and 79 of them start after midnight, at 67 cinemas. The latest begins at 1.25am, so it ends at about 3.40am.

Every session, by cinema and format, is on the Godzilla Minus Zero showtimes listing, and the cast, rating and chains are on the Godzilla Minus Zero film page. If you want IMAX or 4DX, filter by format before you pick a time.