Adam Wingard has another beast of a movie on his hands. The Godzilla vs. Kong director scored a box office hit over the weekend with follow-up Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Distributed by Warner Bros., the film collected $80M from its domestic rollout and another $115.1M overseas, making a worldwide debut of a whopping $195.1M.
The pic made a huge splash in China at $44M upon opening on March 29, the top grossing debut so far for the sci-fi action flick. Mexico was the second top grossing release with $12.8M. Other high earners include India ($5.6M), United Kingdom ($5.3M), Australia ($3.7M), Spain ($3.5M), and Indonesia ($3.1M).
Quite a feat compared to Godzilla vs. Kong, which collected a domestic opening of $31.6M during its March 2021 release. Eventually, the film amassed a worldwide box office of $470.1M across 3,064 theaters, but it was evident the pandemic had an impact on its performance. That didn’t stop China from having the top overseas box office at $69.2M, while the rest of the world performed significantly lower.
Without the troubles of its predecessor, Godzilla x Kong is expected to do even better. Opening day earned an average of $9,533 in 3,861 theaters for an accumulative daily of $36.8M. Saturday saw a drop of 28.2%, totaling $26.4M, while Sunday ended Easter weekend with a $16.8M day.
Terry Rossio, who co-wrote Godzilla vs. Kong, Simon Barrett (V/H/S/94), and Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy), penned the screenplay which unites the two ancient titans in a battle of epic proportions as mankind race to unravel the hidden mysteries of Skull Island.
The film stars Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong), Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train), Dan Stevens (Legion), Kaylee Hottle (Godzilla vs. Kong), Alex Ferns (The Batman) and Fala Chen (Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings).
Watch the Official Trailer For Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire
Besides Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, theaters were filled with independent and arthouse films the weekend of March 29. Some box office earners included Friday Entertainment’s Tillu Square ($1.9M) and Crew ($1.5M), and Samuel Goldwyn Company’s In the Land of Saints and Sinners ($1.1M).
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The bigger tentpoles maintained the top positions: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ($15.6M) held on to the No. 2 spot, followed by Dune: Part Two ($11.4M) at No. 3, and Kung Fu Panda 4 ($10.3M) at No. 4.
