Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has hit a major box office milestone. The new movie is the fifth theatrical installment in the Monsterverse, Legendary’s franchise that features monsters from the King Kong and Godzilla franchises and also includes television titles like Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Directed by Adam Wingard, it follows the titular Titans teaming up once again to destroy a new threat that emerges from the Hollow Earth alongside a human cast that includes Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, and Brian Tyree Henry.
Per Deadline, the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire box office is projected to earn a 3-day total between $14.3 million and $15 million by the end of its third weekend in domestic theaters. Even if it winds up at the lower range of its projections, this will push it well past the $150 million milestone at the domestic box office. It is only the third domestic release of 2024 to cross this threshold, behind Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two.
While the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire release has been performing well, it has persistently fallen behind the progress of the original Monsterverse movie, 2014’s Godzilla. The franchise kickoff title was eventually outgrossed by 2017’s Kong: Skull Island thanks to that movie’s robust performance in international markets, which gave it more than double its overall domestic gross. However, the new sequel is still showing off outstanding results compared to the overall franchise.
In fact, this $150 million domestic total has already outgrossed the entire domestic runs of the two most recent movies in the franchise in just three weekends. Those titles would be 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which only earned $110.5 million in North America, and 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, which earned $100.9 million domestically, hampered by a day-and-date streaming release on HBO Max. Below, see how the number of days it took the Monsterverse movies to pass the $150 million milestone at the domestic box office compares to their overall worldwide box office grosses:
It remains to be seen if Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire can outgross either of the first two Monsterverse movies. However, it has been receiving a significant boost in international markets (before this weekend, its domestic number was $142.4 million while its international total was $226.6 million), which could help it achieve a Skull Island-style boost. While its overall international numbers aren’t doing as well as the 2017 title, the fact that it’s keeping pace with the 2014 movie could show that it has a clear path to at least earning more than $500 million worldwide.
Source: Deadline