Godzilla vs Kong smashes more box office records in its opening weekend, surpassing Wonder Woman 1984's entire domestic haul in its first five days. The Adam Wingard directed MonsterVerse film seemed prime for a big debut. When Godzilla vs Kong debuted internationally on March 24, it became the highest grossing box office since the beginning of the pandemic, earning $70 million in China with a total take of $122 million. On the domestic side, things were looking good for Godzilla vs Kong ahead of its March 31 debut.
Despite analysts projecting that the film's box office take wouldn't be able to match China's, there were signs it would at least break records stateside, too. Projections indicated a take somewhere in the $30 million range. However, Godzilla vs Kong blew expectations out of the water with its opening day haul, the highest since March 2020. Good word of mouth and other factors have now propelled it even further than many thought it could originally go.
THR reports that, in its first five days in theaters, Godzilla vs Kong took in an estimated $48.5 million as the domestic box office. Of that, $32 million comes from the Easter weekend, with the rest coming during the first days of its release on Wednesday and Thursday. This gross puts it on track to surpass the entire lifetime grosses of recent films like The Croods: A New Age and Tenet. It also puts Godzilla vs Kong above Wonder Woman 1984, out-earning the DCEU movie's entire domestic run in just the first five days.
Wonder Woman 1984 and Godzilla vs Kong hail from the same studios, but this time, the MonsterVerse won out. The Gal Gadot led DCEU sequel debuted over the Christmas holidays in similar fashion, premiering on HBO Max and in theaters on the same day, the first of WB's films to do so. Wonder Woman 1984's three day haul came out to $16.7 million compared to Godzilla vs Kong's Easter weekend haul of $32.2 million. Additionally, during its entire run, Wonder Woman 1984 earned $45.9 million domestically, putting Godzilla vs Kong's five day total above the DCEU blockbuster.
To be fair, Wonder Woman 1984 debuted when less theaters were available and when the virus was reaching another peak. Godzilla vs Kong has the advantage of more screens available and a vaccine initiative rolling out across the country and around the world. Ultimately, though, Godzilla vs Kong's box office is a win for everyone. Not only do both films come under WB's banner, but audience interest shows that moviegoers are willing to return to theaters for big films that demand to be seen on a large screen. Worries that the box office could falter after the pandemic are still prevalent, but the MonsterVerse has certainly taken some of the pressure off with this news.
Source: THR