Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire raged through the box office this holiday weekend. Variety reported that the monster mashup installment to the Godzilla franchise racked up a higher-than-expected total $80 million debut from 3,861 theaters in North America.
Full stop. Why does this matter? Anyone who enjoys going to the movies as a hobby, pastime, or family activity needs films like this outside of the superhero genre to do well. Without the success of studio film franchises, going to the movies as we know it can be at risk of faltering. So this is a good thing. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire eating at expectations helps protect the theater movie-going experience. In a post-COVID world, it’s clear these films need to do well.
“Every movie counts, and the importance of each film’s performance carries a lot of weight in terms of moving the needle,” in a quote to Variety from senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “The combination of ‘Dune,’ ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ ‘Ghostbusters’ and now ‘Godzilla’ has shown the power of a few key releases to turn the box office tide in a relatively short amount of time.”
Now get this: the fifth film in Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, “Monsterverse,” was only projected to bring in $50 million to $55 million. However, Godzilla x Kong went above and beyond the forecaster’s best guesses on performance. The total is now at $194 million “from 64 overseas territories” after three days of release.
As Variety calls it, this is the second-biggest debut in the MonsterVerse, following 2014’s “Godzilla” ($93 million) but ahead of 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island” ($61 million), 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” ($47.7 million) and 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” ($31 million while on HBO Max).
If you want to carry a $135 million production budget, this film needs to hit home with customers across the globe to justify the hefty budget. It is on pace to outgross its previous film in the franchise Godzilla vs. Kong, which was a hit during the pandemic-marred theater economy with $474 million worldwide.
Hopefully, Godzilla and Kong keep kicking monster butt because the movie theater experience, industry, and fun of it all certainly needs it.
The post Box Office: ‘Godzilla X Kong’ Smashes the Box off With Surprising $80 Million Debut first appeared on The Source.
The post Box Office: ‘Godzilla X Kong’ Smashes the Box off With Surprising $80 Million Debut appeared first on The Source.