Despite a big drop, Godzilla x Kong easily wins the weekend, as Monkey Man and The First Omen settle for so-so openings.
After a blockbuster-filled March, and a potentially blockbuster-filled May, April is looking very, very quiet. While it is possible that we might see a $100 million grosser open in the next three weeks, there's a real chance that the next film that hits the century mark, other than one March holdover, will be The Fall Guy or Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. On the other hand, that might give the March titles some space to rack up a few more dollars than they otherwise would get.
That could be good news for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which easily came in first for the second weekend in a row, despite a rather sharp drop from Easter weekend. The latest entry in the MonsterVerse earned $31.2 million, for a ten-day total of $134.5 million. The big drop shouldn't be much of a surprise, both because it is coming off a holiday weekend and because this franchise typically sees big second weekend drops. Indeed, it held up better than either of the solo Godzilla movies, and still has a decent shot of hitting the $200 million mark, which would make it the franchise's highest grosser. What it won't do, however, is catch up to Dune: Part Two. Even though the two films had near-identical openings, Dune has now opened up a big lead, as it had a much better second weekend.
Opening in second is Monkey Man, the directorial debut of Dev Patal, who also stars as the titular man, who seeks out bloody revenge against those who did him and his mother wrong. This was originally earmarked to be released by Netflix, but Jordan Peele convinced Universal to buy it and give it a proper release, including a Super Bowl commercial. Critics were fairly kind to the film, but Universal was undoubtedly hoping it would do better than a $10.1 million opening. That said, this is the type of movie that could easily become a word-of-mouth hit, so don't be too surprised if it has decent legs. At the very least, it feels like a cult hit in the making, that will probably be widely sampled once it hits Peacock in a few months.
After a decent opening, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has gone ice cold, as the horror comedy busted $9 million, for a total of $88.9 million. It should hit $100 million in the next couple of weeks, but is looking unlikely to hit the $112.5 million Ghostbusters II made in 1989. We'll see if this convinces Sony to let the IP rest for a few years.
Speaking of zombie IPs back from the dead, The First Omen represents the fifth attempt by Fox to revive the 70s horror series since the third movie came and went in 1981. Like the first four, this one is also looking like a failure, as it opened to $8.4 million, likely hurt by comparisons to the similar Immaculate, which is also still playing nationwide. Like most horror films, I expect this one to fade quickly, and while it seems likely to outgross Immaculate, I expect it will finish below $20 million.
Kung Fu Panda 4 continues to be the only game in town for family audiences, earning $7.8 million for a total of $166 million. It has now passed the final gross of Kung Fu Panda 2 and, since it has no chance of getting to the $215.4 million that the original earned in 2008, has clinched becoming the second-highest grosser of the franchise, and still has an outside shot at $200 million. If it does hit that number--or even just gets to $187 million--it will be the highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation title since Madagascar 3 back in 2012.
The aforementioned Dune: Part Two picked up another $7.4 million, as it brings its year-leading total to $265.1 million. To no one's surprise, Dune 3 has now officially been greenlighted.
As their name suggests, Fathom Events are experts at doing theatrical events--special rereleases of classic films, anime, or concerts, usually for only a couple of days for a couple of showtimes. They haven't done too much in the way of traditional theatrical distribution. But here they are with the romantic drama Someone Like You, having a relatively normal theatrical rollout (albeit one that appears to be limited to just two daily showtimes at theaters running it). The film is based on a novel by Karen Kingsbury, who co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film through her production company (her name appears on the poster 7 times. By comparison, Tyler Perry's name only appears 5 times on the poster of the last theatrical Madea film, A Madea Family Funeral, but I digress). Despite limited promotion, it opened to a decent $3 million and will probably get a lot more samples once it hits a streaming service.
Arthur the King is wrapping up its run with $1.6 million, for a total of $22.2 million. The aforementioned Immaculate made $1.4 million, for a total of $14.1 million.
In tenth, the British black comedy Wicked Little Letters, about a town whose residents all start getting nastily profane letters in the mail, and the women (including Oscar winner Olivia Colman and nominee Jessie Buckley) who decide to solve the case, expanded into wide release and received $1.3 million worth of wicked little greenbacks. The film's ten-day total stands at $1.4 million.
Outside the Top 10, the Liam Neeson Irish-set actioner In the Land of Saints and Sinners was largely an afterthought, as it moved to a ten-day total of $2 million.
Godzilla x Kong might be able to threepeat this weekend, but it will need to get past the weekend's big newcomer, Civil War. The latest (and possibly last) film from Ex Machina and Annihilation director Alex Garland, this drama follows several people, including Kristen Dunst, as they move across an America riven by a modern civil war. At $50 million, it is easily the most expensive movie from A24 ever, and if it does open at #1, it will be the first time the acclaimed studio has had a film top the box office. Hoping to land on the lower runs of the chart are the horror film Sting and the golf drama The Long Game. Will Kong monkey around at hit #1 for the third week in a row? Or will Civil War conquer the box office? We'll find out next week.
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