Box office: Godzilla vs. Kong continues its COVID-19 rampage with $357 million worldwide

While it fell almost 60 percent at the domestic box office in its second weekend, Godzilla vs. Kong still remains a monstrous triumph of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Variety, the kaiju smackdown from director Adam Wingard stomped its way to another $13.4 million, boosting its North American total to $69.5 million. That's quite a drop from its five-day bow of almost $50 million last week. Nevertheless, the Warner Bros. and Legendary release is now the highest-grossing movie of the global health crisis in terms of the domestic gross, surpassing Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which managed to accrue a Stateside total of $58.4 million across the span of about four months. It's a rather impressive feat, considering that Godzilla vs. Kong is also available to stream on HBO Max until the end of the month.

The epic monster mash has done even better overseas with $288.3 million in sales abroad for a colossal worldwide tally of $357.8 million. In particular, China, Australia, Mexico, Russia, South East Asia, and the Middle East are bringing in the big bucks. Entertainment Weekly projects that the fourth entry in the MonsterVerse will surpass Tenet's worldwide record of $363 million (the current health crisis milestone in terms of global sales) within the next week.

“We’re thrilled that Godzilla vs. Kong is bringing audiences back into theaters where they are open around the world, and also delivering for our HBO Max subscribers in their homes here in the U.S.,” Toby Emmerich, chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said in a statement. “It’s truly a pleasure for all of us at Warner Bros. and HBO Max to be able to thank and congratulate Adam, Legendary and the entire GvK team on the great results for this terrific movie.”

“I’m very aware that that’s why people are coming to see this film," Wingard recently explained to SYFY WIRE, referring to the fact that audiences are really paying to watch two of cinema's most iconic creatures beat the literal crud out of each other. "Even though these are some of the best actors in the world — which is kind of insane that you’d have all of them in this film, people aren’t coming to see them. They aren’t coming to see me as a director. They’re coming to see the stars of the movie, Godzilla and King Kong.”

Also in its second weekend, Sony Pictures' The Unholy came in third place domestically, nabbing $2.4 million and boosting its North American cache to $6.7 million. The horror film, which stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) as a disgraced journalist investigating an alleged miracle healer, has made a little over $233,000 overseas.

Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon came in fourth with an additional $2.1 million in North America for a domestic tally of $35.2 million. The animated adventures is also available to stream on Disney+ for an added fee of $29.99, although Disney has not disclosed how many households went for the Premier Access option. Raya has made over $54 million internationally and could break $100 million globally within the next week or two.

Lastly, Lionsgate's Voyagers blasted off with a decent-sized domestic opening of $1.3 million. Described as a sci-fi twist on William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the film (written and directed by Limitless and Divergent filmmaker, Neil Burger) centers around a spaceship full of young people who were specifically bred to colonize a new planet. Things go terribly wrong when the youths defy their programming and start to give into base urgers that compromise the mission.

Voyager's co-stars Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One), Lily-Rose Depp (Savage), Fionn Whitehead (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), Chanté Adams (Roxanne, Roxanne), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Game of Thrones), Viveik Kalra (Blinded by the Light), Archie Madekwe (Midsommar), Quintessa Swindell (Trinkets), Madison Hu (Bizaardvark), and Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them).