The Cat in the Hat Finally Tops the Box Office: Bill Hader’s Seuss Film Edges Past Godzilla Minus Zero
The Cat in the Hat has finally had its day at the top. Warner Bros.’ animated Dr. Seuss adaptation claimed its first No. 1 day at the North American box office on Wednesday, November 11, edging past Godzilla Minus Zero, $3.45 million to $3.11 million.
The win arrived on Veterans Day, a school holiday across much of the United States, and the timing did the film a favour: the Bill Hader-led family title surged 91 percent from Tuesday, while Godzilla Minus Zero dipped slightly. It is a single midweek win and should not be oversold, but for a film that opened to $20.5 million — the lowest debut of any Dr. Seuss adaptation, and a second-place finish behind a subtitled Japanese monster movie despite playing in 4,003 theatres — it is the first real sign of the leggy recovery Warner Bros. has been banking on. Six days in, the film sits at roughly $26 million domestically, against a reported budget north of $90 million.
The audience numbers explain why the studio still has hope. Viewers handed the film an A CinemaScore and an 81 percent positive PostTrak rating, figures that often translate into strong holds for family titles even when critics are lukewarm — and critics here were decidedly lukewarm, at 49 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The pre-Thanksgiving corridor is also relatively light on direct family competition, which gives the Cat a window to keep grinding out matinee business until the holiday slate arrives.
| Film | Opening weekend | 6-day domestic | Wednesday Nov 11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Cat in the Hat | $20.5M | ~$26M | $3.45M |
| Godzilla Minus Zero | $31.6M | $39.1M | $3.11M |
Filmverse take: this is a textbook lesson in why opening weekends tell you the least about family animation. The Cat in the Hat lost its opening weekend and still found its audience, because family films live on school holidays, repeat viewings and parents looking for something to take the kids to — and Veterans Day handed it exactly that. For Warner Bros., the stakes go beyond one weekend: this is the first full-length feature from the relaunched Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, and the studio hopes to build a Seuss animated universe on its back. And for Godzilla Minus Zero, losing a Wednesday to a school-holiday surge changes nothing — it remains the story of the season, a subtitled sequel that out-opened a $90 million studio animation and is about to lap its Oscar-winning predecessor.
Source: MovieWeb, Deadline, Box Office Mojo. All box-office figures are trade estimates.
