Godzilla vs. Kong Destroys the Box Office!

Now, that’s more like it. After a year of meager box office weekends due to the COVID pandemic, during which high profile films such as Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 managed paltry sums, Warner Bros. and Legendary’s monster bash Godzilla vs. Kong smashed all industry expectations on route to a massive $48.5M over a 5-day period; and $32.2M from Fri-Sun, with $12M coming on Sunday (+8%).

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This, despite the film releasing concurrently on HBO Max, which Deadline points out, likely cost Adam Wingard’s epic a great deal of money. Keep in mind, Netflix attempted to purchase the film for its own streaming library, but WB opted to go with the theatrical-and-streaming HBO Max day-and-date release instead, which was obviously the right move.

GvK’s success helped lift the domestic box office to $44.7M, the best three days since mid-March of last year and a massive +109,000% from the same weekend exactly one year ago, per Comscore. GvK was originally set for a November 2020 release, but was delayed due to the pandemic. The longer wait clearly helped build anticipation, as did the notion of seeing a big-budget, special FX extravaganza on the big screen once theaters reopened.

Internationally, GvK has totaled $285M after adding another $76.1M this weekend (down just 39% from last week’s pandemic-record start), giving the film the distinct title of “fastest movie release in the COVID era to hit $200M.” It took GvK 12 days to reach that milestone, while Tenet took 24 days. Different periods, for sure, but still worth noting.

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In IMAX, GvK has amassed $28M globally, including China’s 10-day $18M cume, the biggest 10-day IMAX result for Legendary’s MonsterVerse franchise and nearly double the final IMAX China gross for Kong: Skull Island and King of the Monsters. Not too shabby.

The only other new releases over the weekend were The Unholy, which debuted at No. 2 with $3.2M from 1,850 theaters and The Girl Who Believes in Miracles, which chalked up $526K from 640 theaters.

Last week’s champ, Nobody, collected $3.07M (-55%) in Week 2 to raise its total to $11.8M, while Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon added another $2.05M to its $32.1M domestic total.

1.) Godzilla vs. Kong (WB/Leg) 3,064 theaters/Wed $9.6M/Thu $6.7M/Fri $11.6M/Sat $12.5M/$8.1M Sun/3-day $32.2M/5-day $48.5M/Wk 1

2.) The Unholy (Sony) 1,850 theaters Fri $1.2MM/Sat $1.2M/Sun $770K/$3.2M/Wk 1

3.) Nobody (Uni) 2,567 theaters (+107) Fri $1.06M/Sat $1.22M/Sun $790K/3-day: $3.07M (-55%)/Total $11.8M/Wk 2

4.) Raya and the Last Dragon (Dis) 2,031 theaters (-181), Fri $800K/Sat $761K/Sun $493k/ 3-day: $2.05M (-45%), Total: $32.1M/Wk 5

5.) Tom & Jerry (WB) 2,273 theaters (-191), 3-day: $1.4M (-48%)/Total: $39.5M/Wk 6

6.) The Girl Who Believes in Miracles (Atlas) 640 theaters 3-day $526K/Wk 1

7.) The Courier (RSA) 1,322 theaters (-319), Fri $165K/Sat $174K/Sun $113K/3-day: $452K (-57%)/Total: $4.2M/Wk 3

8.) Chaos Walking (Lionsgate) 1,605 theaters (-431), Fri $134K/Sat $149K/Sun $98K/3-day: $380K (-69%)/Total: $12.2M/Wk 5

9.) The Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,212 theaters (-107), Fri $81K /Sat $76K/Sun $53K/3-day: $210K (-62%)/Total: $56.3M/Wk 19

10.) French Exit (SPC) 483 theaters 3-day $193K/Total $200,5K/Wk 8