“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” topped the box office, earning more than expected $80 million from 3,861 theaters in North America in its debut.
Heading into the weekend, Monster Mashup was expected to earn between $50 million and $55 million to start. But “Godzilla High). A- “Cinema Score”). Critics were less impressed with The New Empire, starring Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dan Stevens and directed by Adam Wingard (“Godzilla vs. Kong”). It holds a “rotten” average of 55% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It is the second major debut for Warner Bros. Records. and Legendary's MonsterVerse, after 2014's “Godzilla” ($93 million) but before 2017's “Kong: Skull Island” ($61 million) and 2019's “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” ($47.7 million). ) and 2021's “Godzilla vs. Kong” ($31 million while on HBO Max). “Godzilla x Kong” also had the second-biggest domestic opening weekend of the year, narrowly behind the Warner Bros. film. and Legendary, “Dune: Part Two: $82.5 million.”
The “Godzilla” and “Kong” films tend to be particularly big hits at the international box office, and “The New Empire” is no different. It far exceeded expectations with $114 million from 64 overseas territories, bringing its global total to $194 million. After three days of release, it has already become the third highest-grossing film of the year behind “Dune: Part Two” ($626 million after five weeks of release) and “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($347 million after four weeks of release). . . The New Empire has a production budget of $135 million, so it needs to resonate with ticket buyers around the world.
The double whammy of “Godzilla x Kong” and “Dune 2” helps make up for the lack of new releases in January and February. A few weeks ago, box office receipts were 20% lower than at the same point in 2023. But now, ticket sales are down just 6.3%, according to Comscore.
“Every movie matters, and the importance of how each movie performs carries a lot of weight in terms of moving the needle,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore. “The combination of ‘Dune,’ ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ ‘Ghostbusters’ and now ‘Godzilla’ has demonstrated the power of some major releases to turn the box office around in a relatively short period of time.”
Elsewhere at the box office, “Godzilla x Kong” was outpaced by Sony's “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” which targets a similar demographic (and coincidentally also contains the word “Empire” in its title). The supernatural comedy came in a distant second with $15.7 million from 4,345 venues, a sharp 65% decline from its debut. After two weeks of release, Ghostbusters has grossed $73.4 million at the domestic box office and $108.5 million worldwide. Its cost amounted to $100 million, not including the huge marketing expenses. Since theaters can keep half of ticket sales, Frozen Empire would require some serious box office strength to justify a studio's return to the ghost-busting business.
“Kung Fu Panda 4,” produced by Universal and DreamWorks Animation, remained in third place with $10 million in 3,582 theaters. To date, the animated family film has grossed $151 million in North America and over $347 million worldwide. Given its $85 million production budget, “Kung Fu Panda 4” is positioned well for its theatrical run.
“Dune: Part Two” fell to No. 4 in its fifth weekend on the big screen. The sci-fi epic has collected $9.85 million over the weekend and $251 million domestically so far. It is currently the highest-grossing film of the year with $626 million worldwide.
Sydney Sweeney's religious horror film “Immaculate” occupied the top five with $3.2 million from 2,362 locations, down 41% from the previous weekend. Neon is backing the film, which grossed $11.1 million after two weeks in theaters.
