What to Watch This Weekend: Godzilla Takes On the Cat in the Hat, Ramayana Goes IMAX, and Rocky Turns 50

Three wide releases arrive in two days this week, and they could not be less alike. On Thursday, Sony opens Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, the first half of a two-part retelling of the Hindu epic, three days before Diwali. On Friday, Warner Bros. releases its animated The Cat in the Hat on the same day as Godzilla Minus Zero, the first Godzilla movie ever rated R.

Add Martin McDonagh's new comedy, a 50th anniversary run for Rocky, and a spy series that drops all at once, and November 6 to 8 gets crowded. Here is how to spend it.

The big-screen pick: Godzilla Minus Zero

Takashi Yamazaki's sequel to Godzilla Minus One, which won the Oscar for visual effects in 2024, holds 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from 56 reviews. It is rated R for bloody images and violent content, runs 2 hours and 15 minutes, and is the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX. This is the one to see on the biggest screen near you.

Our review roundup explains where critics split: it is bigger and stranger than Minus One, and slower to bring out its monsters. Can't wait until Friday? Select IMAX theaters have Godzilla Day early-access shows on Tuesday, November 3, the anniversary of the original Godzilla's 1954 release in Japan.

Then decide where it goes on our Godzilla movies ranked list. Minus One sits second there, behind only the 1954 film, so beating its predecessor would put the sequel in the top two.

Make your tier list right here

Five Godzilla films, head-to-head. Tap the one you prefer and we will build your order, then label it S through D.

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Godzilla Minus One 2023

VS

Godzilla 1954

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The family pick: The Cat in the Hat

Bill Hader voices the Cat, sent to cheer up two siblings after a move to a new town, with Matt Berry as Waffles the fish, plus Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez and Giancarlo Esposito. Alessandro Carloni (co-director of Kung Fu Panda 3) and Erica Rivinoja direct. It is rated PG for action, some peril, mild language and rude humor, and runs under two hours.

What we cannot tell you yet is whether it is good. As of Tuesday, Rotten Tomatoes listed no reviews, though the first social reactions after its October 25 premiere at Warner Bros. Studios Burbank were warm. The bar is low: Mike Myers' live-action version from 2003 sits at about 10 percent with critics.

The No. 1 race is close. One forecaster, Todd Thatcher, has Godzilla winning the weekend at $36.2 million, with the Cat second at $30.5 million. Either would knock You Can See Everything off the top. The documentary won last weekend, its third, with $11.4 million.

The epic pick: Ramayana: Rise of a Legend

Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal) directs Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana, with Sunny Deol as Hanuman. Producer Namit Malhotra has said the two films together cost about 4,000 crore rupees, more than any Indian production before them, and Part 2 is due in 2027. Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman wrote the score, Zimmer's first for an Indian film. It opens Thursday, including in IMAX.

Pick your version carefully. AMC lists two, per Variety India: the Hindi original at 3 hours and 15 minutes, with songs and an intermission, and an English-language version at 2 hours and 45 minutes. Reviews so far are mixed. IndieWire gave it a B, while Next Best Picture's Giovanni Lago gave it 5 out of 10, praising Yash's "menacing performance" but finding that the battle effects "feel weightless." Thatcher has it third, at $17.1 million from Thursday to Sunday.

The grown-up pick: Wild Horse Nine

Martin McDonagh's first film since The Banshees of Inisherin sends John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell to Easter Island as CIA agents just before the 1973 Chilean coup, with Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey. Malkovich, as a dying officer who has stopped filtering anything he says, won Best Actor at Venice, as we reported in September.

It holds 93 percent from 120 reviews, the same score as Godzilla from more than twice as many critics. Rated R for pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and some strong violence, and it runs 1 hour and 58 minutes. Thatcher expects Searchlight to open it on around 1,000 screens.

Also in theaters

• Rocky 50 (Saturday, November 7, to Wednesday, November 11): Fathom brings Sylvester Stallone's 1976 original back in a 4K remaster, with a first look at I Play Rocky and an introduction from its cast. It sits at No. 1 on our Rocky movies ranked list, ahead of Creed.
• I Play Rocky (Amazon MGM, limited, PG-13): Peter Farrelly on how an unknown Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) refused to sell his script unless he could star in it. 87 percent from 60 reviews, and it goes wide November 20.
• Club Kid (A24, limited, R): Jordan Firstman writes, directs and stars as a New York club promoter who meets the 10-year-old son he never knew he had. Still 100 percent, now from 73 reviews.
• Jimmy (PG-13): KJ Apa plays Jimmy Stewart, with Jason Alexander as Louis B. Mayer and Max Casella as Frank Capra.

The couch picks

Possible Love (Netflix, Friday). Lee Chang-dong's first film since Burning won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice and holds 100 percent from 75 reviews. Two married couples cross paths while making a documentary. It runs 2 hours and 44 minutes, so start early. It is also the first pick in our November streaming guide.

Black Doves, season 2 (Netflix, Thursday). Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire return to the London spy thriller, joined by Neve Campbell, Ambika Mod and Babou Ceesay. All six episodes arrive at once.

Stick, season 2 (Apple TV, Wednesday). Owen Wilson's golf comedy returns with two episodes and adds Rhea Seehorn to the cast. New episodes follow weekly through December 30.

The Planet of the Apes saga (HBO Max). Rise, Dawn, War and Kingdom joined HBO Max on Monday, per TVLine's November listings. Our Planet of the Apes movies ranked list puts Dawn highest of the four, second only to the 1968 original.

Then keep score. Add whatever you watch to Shortlist and rank it head to head against the movies you already love, two at a time. Does Minus Zero beat Minus One? Does the new Cat beat the old one? Our movie tier list guide shows how to settle it, and the TV show tier list is where Black Doves goes.

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