Godzilla x Kong Domestic Box Office Passes Skull Island To Become Second-Best Monsterverse Movie

Summary

• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
  has made $9.455 million at the domestic box office in its fourth weekend.
• This pushes its cumulative domestic total past
  Kong: Skull Island
  to become the second highest-grossing installment domestically of the franchise.
• It seems somewhat unlikely that the movie will outgross the No. 1 installment, 2014’s
  Godzilla
  .

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire‘s domestic total is climbing, pushing it up the all-time domestic chart for the Monsterverse franchise. The Monsterverse, which combines characters from two of history’s biggest monster movie franchises, began in 2014 with Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and has since expanded to include five movies and two streaming television shows, with more in development. The new movie, which was directed by Adam Wingard, opened with $80 million, marking the second-best debut of the franchise behind the original installment.

Per Deadline, the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire box office is projected to close out its fourth weekend in theaters with a 3-day total of $9.455 million at the domestic box office. This would bring its cumulative domestic total to $171.6 million, pushing past the $168 million earned by the franchise’s sophomore effort Kong: Skull Island in 2017. With that total, the new sequel has now become the second highest-grossing Monsterverse movie in the domestic market behind the original 2014 Godzilla.

Could Godzilla x Kong Become The No. 1 Monsterverse Movie?

There Are Still Hurdles Ahead For The Godzilla x Kong Box Office

While this development is an outstanding result for the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire release, it remains to be seen if it can climb any higher up the domestic chart. 2014’s Godzilla earned more than $200 million at the domestic box office by the end of its theatrical run, which means that the new movie would still have to earn roughly $30 million more in order to surpass it. This isn’t entirely out of the question, but the movie has so consistently taken No. 2 behind the original installment in various domestic benchmarks that the prospect seems unlikely.

The worldwide box office chart for the Monsterverse movies also presents an even bigger hurdle for the new movie to take No. 1, especially considering the middling Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire reviews. Although it was until recently No. 2 at the domestic box office, Kong: Skull Island is actually the highest-performing movie in the franchise worldwide thanks to its strong international numbers. Below, see how the three movies compare at the domestic and worldwide box office, as well as how quickly it took the Godzilla movies to surpass $170 million:

Ultimately, it seems that it will be a close call no matter what happens. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is climbing swiftly up the charts. Even if it never rises higher than its current position as the No. 2 Monsterverse movie domestically and the No. 3 installment worldwide, it seems like it will put up a good fight and likely end up perilously close to the older titles’ records if it doesn’t surpass them.

Source: Deadline