411 Box Office Report: Godzilla X Kong Holds Onto #1, Monkey Man Starts at #2

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire had an easy second win at the box office this weekend as its new competition opened mildly. The kaiju team-up film remained atop the charts with a $31.7 million sophomore weekend. That’s a 60% drop from its opening weekend, slightly higher than the 57% drop of Godzilla vs. Kong but better than the drops for Godzilla (67% in 2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (68% in 2019).

The fall from last weekend was largely expected for a number of reasons. For one, that’s par for the course for Legendary’s MonsterVerse, which is a fandom-driven blockbuster franchise. For another, Godzilla X Kong vastly overperformed last weekend which meant hype was high – and high hype generally leads to stronger slips in the second weekend. Either way, this film is in fine shape as far as Warner Bros. and Legendary are concerned; it has already grossed $135 million domestically and $302.4 million worldwide against a budget of $135 million. The film is still looking likely to make it to around $200 million, more than enough to keep the studios happy.

Coming in at #2 was Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, which scored $10.2 million. The action film opened below the expected mid-teens opening that was hoped for coming into the weekend. It’s still not an awful start for the $10 million-budgeted film, and Universal will hope that the movie can leg out to a decent final number.

Monkey Man has been riding a wave of critical buzz, with an 87% aggregated critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. And audiences generally liked it too, with an 83% audience score on RT as well as a B+ CinemaScore. The problem was that this was a somewhat strange film to market and it flew somewhat under filmgoers’ radar. Still, it has good holds through the weekend and as I said, hope is that it can capitalize on positive word of mouth to decent results.

The film has opened a bit quietly overseas, with $2.5 million in 27 territories. It has plenty more places to open though and a likely $25 million total domestically should ensure some profitability for this film, which was originally set up at Netflix before being shopped out to Universal.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was down 42% in its third weekend as it stabilized some, bringing in $9 million. That puts the franchise sequel at $88.9 million domestically and $138.2 million worldwide. The film does still have a ways to go before hitting profit against a $100 million budget, but the overseas footprint is still expanding and it should make it there with a $115 million to $120 million domestic final expected at this point.

The First Omen landed more or less where expected as it grossed $8.4 million in its opening weekend. The prequel to the Antichrist-centered horror film was a bit lower than the $10 million start that 20th Century Studios hoped for, but not at all by a fatal margin. That’s better than the $5.3 million start of fellow nun-based horror film Immaculate a couple weeks ago.

A couple caveats on that comparison should be made, both for and against First Omen. To start with, Immaculate didn’t have the franchise recognition that First Omen did. The original Omen is a beloved horror classic; that’s why this prequel exists, after all. And First Omen had the marketing machine of 20th Century (and thus Disney) behind it while Immaculate is a production from indie studio NEON. But on the flip side, Immaculate had star power in Sydney Sweeney, something this prequel lacked. Based on those, it’s probably about right that First Omen performed better, but not overly so.

First Omen is the first film since the original to score with critics; it stands at a 79% RT score, which was a bit of a surprise and gave it a boost heading into the weekend. The 64% RT audience score and C CinemaScore are less encouraging, but they do rank it around where Immaculate did. First Omen is not yet reporting any overseas numbers, but it will need to perform a fair bit better there than Sweeney’s film to make back its $30 million budget. The likely domestic final is around $25 million or so.

Kung Fu Panda 4 was off just 24% in its fifth weekend with $7.9 million. The animated film is still in good shape with $166.1 million and $408.4 million worldwide against an $80 million budget, a nice profit. It should close out with around $190 million stateside and if the holds continue well could cross the $200 mark.

Dune: Part Two eased another 37% in its sixth weekend with $7.2 million. The Warner Bros. blockbuster now has $264.9 million domestically and $638.5 million worldwide against a $190 million budget, a massive hit that is still on course for up to $290 million domestically.

Fathom Events’ Someone Like You opened at #7 with $3 million. The film, an adaptation of Karen Kingsbury’s romantic drama, played to the faith-based crowd that Fathom has been targeting with the likes of The Chosen. There’s no word on this film’s budget and it will disappear quickly (as is the M.O. for Fathom’s limited engagements), but it should be able to finish with around $7 million or so.

Arthur The King was off 38% in its fourth weekend to $1.5 million. The Mark Wahlberg drama now has $22.2 million domestically and $22.6 million worldwide, aiming for around $25 million against a $19.5 million budget.

There can be only one when it comes to nunsploitation, and Immaculate took a hit from the direct competition of The First Omen, dropping 57% in this third weekend to $1.4 million. Still, despite the heavier drop Sweeney’s movie is in fine shape with $14.1 million domestically and $16.8 million worldwide. It is still looking at around $18 million domestically as an endgame which will be profitable against a $7 million to $8 million budget.

IFC’s Late Night With the Devil closed out the top 10 with $1.1 million, down 48% from its sophomore frame. The found footage horror film is in good shape with $8.5 million domestically – IFC’s fourth-highest domestic total ever and its best since 2014’s Boyhood – and $9.1 million worldwide. It should get close to a $10 million domestic final and is profitable against a budget of $1 million.

Next weekend should see a new #1 as Alex Garland’s Civil War opens with an expected $18 million to $24 million start. Iconic Events is releasing their remake of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, though that will likely be in the low single digits.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – $31.7 million ($135 million total, $302.4 million WW)
2. Monkey Man – $10.2 million ($10.2 million total, $12.7 million WW)
3. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – $9 million ($88.9 million total, $138.2 million WW)
4. The First Omen – $8.4 million ($8.4 million total, $8.4 million WW)
5. Kung Fu Panda 4 – $7.9 million ($166.1 million total, $408.4 million WW)
6. Dune: Part Two – $7.2 million ($264.9 million total, $638.5 million WW)
7. Someone Like You – $3 million ($3 million total, $3 million WW)
8. Arthur The King – $1.5 million ($22.2 million total, $22.6 million WW)
9. Immaculate – $1.4 million ($14.1 million total, $16.8 million WW)
10. Late Night with the Devil – $1.1 million ($8.4 million total, $9.1 million WW)