‘Godzilla x Kong’ towers over box office with $80M opening

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LOS ANGELES – “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” opened with $80 million this weekend to demolish the competition at the box office, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

The latest mash-up of the two long-running monster franchises clobbered “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” which slipped to $15.7 million one week after opening in first place with over $45 million, Comscore reported.

“Dune: Part Two” was third with $11.1 million Friday through Sunday in its fifth week in North American theaters.

Fourth place went to “Kung Fu Panda 4,” which grossed $10.2 million in its fourth week, followed by “Immaculate” with $3.2 million in its second week.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Arthur the King” ($2.4 million), “Late Night with the Devil” ($2.2 million), “Tillu Square” ($1.83 million), “Crew” ($1.49 million) and “Imaginary” ($1.4 million).

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $136.4 million. The year-to-date total is $1.645 billion — down 6% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

With the Easter holiday and children out of school for Spring break, a big turnout was expected this weekend and next week, with continued strong holds for the box office leaders Godzilla x Kong, Dune: Part II and Kung Fu Panda 4.

“Godzilla” and “Kong” movies tend to be huge at the international box office, so it was not a surprise that “The New Empire” far exceeded expectations with $114 million from 64 overseas territories, bringing its global total to a massive $194 million.

After three days of release, it’s already the third-highest-grossing movie of the year following “Dune: Part Two” ($626 million after five weeks of release) and “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($347 million after four weeks of release), according to Variety.

Warner Bros. has released dazzling trailers full of monster-versus-monster battle royale and sci-fi spectacle in the latest installment of their MonsterVerse franchise.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” follows up the explosive showdown of “Godzilla vs. Kong” with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own.

It delves further into the histories of these titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever. (With CNS report)