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Box office: 'Godzilla vs. Kong' becomes second pandemic-era release to cross $100M in North America
After nearly three months in theaters, Adam Wingard's Godzilla vs. Kong has officially crossed a major domestic milestone of $100 million. The fourth entry in the MonsterVerse is only the second COVID-era release to accomplish this feat after A Quiet Place Part II, which hit $100 million in North America over a period of just three short weeks.
Granted, movie theaters were in a much better place when John Krasinski's horror sequel hit theaters in late May (i.e., more people had been vaccinated by that point). Godzilla vs. Kong easily hit the $100M-mark on the global stage back in April (the first COVID offering to do so) and its worldwide haul now stands at $442.5 million. Warner Bros. and Legendary were so pleased, that they've decided to bring Wingard back for another entry in the studios' expanding kaiju cinematic universe.
"Godzilla vs. Kong was one of the films that set the stage for the recovery of movie theaters," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, tells SYFY WIRE. "Despite its availability on the small screen, the film was a huge draw for movie fans who understood the necessity of the big screen experience to do justice to these two bigger-than-life cinematic icons and the numbers prove the point."
The financial performance of both Godzilla vs. Kong and A Quiet Place Part II is proof that the theatrical marketplace is fast on the road to recovery following a year-and-a-half of sluggish business that put the kibosh on massive box office returns. Nature is healing and pre-pandemic numbers are on the rise again.
A Quiet Place Part II, which nabbed an additional $9.4 million this weekend, found itself knocked out of the top domestic spot once again by The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (Part II briefly reclaimed box office dominance last week after losing the No. 1 slot to The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It two weeks ago). The sound-sensitive follow-up now has more than $125 million in the U.S. and $96 million internationally for a global cume of more than $220 million.
After three weeks in theaters, the third Conjuring movie (free to stream on HBO Max) has made a little over $53 million domestically. It's on the verge of breaking $90 million internationally, and boasts a scarily good $142.8 million worldwide. However, the film was knocked into fourth place by Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which hit $20 million in North America this weekend (thanks to $70 million in sale abroad, the family-friendly sequel could hit $100 million globally very soon).
Two North American holdovers — Disney's Cruella (also available on Disney+ for an extra fee) and DreamWorks' Spirit Untamed — hit $64.7 million and $13.8 million, respectively.
Pixar's latest original offering, Luca, is streaming for free on Disney+ in North America, but made a commendable splash in 11 international markets with a total of $5 million. Directed by Oscar nominee Enrico Casarosa ("La Luna"), the film follows a pair of young sea monsters (Jacob Tremblay and Jack Dylan Grazer) exploring the world of humans during one unforgettable summer on the Italian Riveria.
"There's this color of the water — that's why I had to take the team there to show them. There's cobalt blue…It [also] goes quite steep. There's mountains and sea. It's wonderfully unique and specific," Casarosa told SYFY WIRE. "All the beaches, they have a lot of pebbles instead of sand, for example. The sounds are different. When we were down to choosing the wave sound, it was very hard to find the right one. It took us a while ... There's some echoes of The Little Mermaid, but I feel like specificity [and] bringing a true world and finding the real wonderful details are what separates it."
Lastly, we have the ninth chapter in Universal's Fast & Furious franchise. F9, which finally arrives at domestic sites this coming Friday (June 25), is fast — pun very much intended — approaching $300 million on an international scale. Helmed by Fast Saga alum Justin Lin, the movie opened in 13 new markets this weekend, taking the top spot in all of them, while also setting new pandemic records. Moreover, F9 is one of only eight titles to surpass $275 million between 2020 and 2021.
