Mother's Day Box office: Godzilla vs. Kong nears $100 million in North America; Mortal Kombat hits $72 million globally

The domestic box office continues to bounce back amid the COVID-19 pandemic as Godzilla vs. Kong surpassed $92 million this weekend. It's a very promising milestone for upcoming tentpoles like Paramount's A Quiet Place Part II (May 28), Marvel Studios' Black Widow (July 9), and Universal's F9 (June 25).

Globally, the monster mash has made a little over $422 million, prompting Warner Bros. to kick off development on a fifth MonsterVerse project with GvK director Adam Wingard at the helm. Variety points out that the fourth colossal entry in the shared monster universe "surpassed revenues for its predecessor, the poorly reviewed, mega-budgeted Godzilla: King of the Monsters. That film, which was released in 2019, tapped out with $386 million."

Despite Hollywood backlash (coming from high-profile directors like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve) over its unprecedented strategy of streaming/theatrical rollouts for all of its 2021 pictures, WB seems to be getting the last laugh with its kaiju face-off, which is now the highest-grossing movie of the entire health crisis. After more than a year of exhibitor malaise, newly-vaccinated audiences are proving that the communal theatergoing experience isn't as dead as previously suspected.

Now in its third frame, Warner Bros.' Mortal Kombat slipped to third place with $2.3 million in domestic sales, which boosted its North American total to $37.8 million. On a global scale, the video game adaptation has finished off $72 million so far (it's also available to stream on HBO Max until the end of the month). Demon Slayer remained above Mortal Kombat with $3 million, but fell to second, losing out on the top spot to Guy Ritchie's crime action-thriller, Wrath of Man. To date, Demon Slayer has made $39 million domestically and over $435 million worldwide (the most lucrative anime feature in history).

David Oyelowo's directorial debut The Water Man opened this weekend with $183,000 from 311 domestic screens. Written by Emma Needell, the fantasy film centers on a young boy (Lonnie Chavis) who sets out to find a mythical figure in an effort to cure his ailing mother (Rosario Dawson). Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon added $1.8 million to its North American haul, bringing its at-home box office to $43.8 million. Globally, the animated feature has crossed $105 million. 

Other genre holdovers at the domestic box office include: Chaos Walking ($13.2 million), Voyagers ($3.1 million), and In the Earth ($1.1 million). Internationally, two Sony releases — The Unholy and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway — hit $10 million and $17.9 million, respectively.