Godzilla vs. Kong is the most pirated film of 2021, beating out other high-profile films like Zack Snyder's Justice League and Black Widow for the unenviable top spot. After multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Godzilla vs. Kong was one of the first major films released in theaters after a year of shutdowns. It was seen as somewhat of a lifeline to struggling theaters, enticing audiences with a movie that offered larger-than-life characters that needed to be seen on a big screen. The film hit theaters on March 25, 2021and was available for streaming on HBO Max the same day.
The film was a box office hit by current standards and was one of the first major success stories hinting at a return to normalcy as it broke the opening weekend record at the time for a movie released during the pandemic. It eventually grossed $100 million domestically, one of only two Warner Bros. movies released in 2021 to do so alongside Dune. With a $467 million worldwide gross, Godzilla vs. Kong even managed to outgross its predecessor Godzilla: King of the Monster's $386 million worldwide total. Before the release of the film, the Monsterverse future was in doubt, but interest has been renewed now that AppleTV+ is producing a Godzilla series that will explore the time period between 2014's Godzilla and 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
It appears that the demand for Godzilla vs. Kong was even higher than the box office numbers imply. According to The Wrap, the film was the most pirated movie of 2021. The report was done by tech firm Akamai and saw Zack Snyder's Justice League coming in second, followed by Black Widow in the number three spot. The data was gathered between January and September, so later 2021 releases like The Matrix Resurrections, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Eternals were not accounted for.
On the surface, it may seem like 2021 was a standout year for Warner Bros. The studio's Mortal Kombat was the biggest movie premiere on HBO Max and Wonder Woman 1984 was the top-selling movie on home video. However, half of the list is made up of WB releases. After Godzilla vs. Kong and Zack Snyder's Justice League taking the top two spots, Mortal Kombat came in at number five, The Suicide Squad at six, and Wonder Woman 1984 at 8. Part of the factor for these films ranking so high is that, while Warner Bros. released their entire 2021 slate on HBO Max simultaneous with their theatrical release, that was only for the United States. This meant that high-quality cuts of the movies were readily available to the public and able to be put up on the web almost instantly.
Disney claims that Black Widow lost $600 million dollars due to piracy from its Disney+ release, meaning Godzilla vs. Kong could theoretically have lost out on even more. It is safe to say that Godzilla vs. Kong still would have been a box office hit, even after its predecessor underperforming, given the high-profile nature of both Godzilla and Kong alone. But how much more of a hit would the film had been without the pandemic and the HBO Max release will remain a what if.
Source: The Wrap