Box Office Report for the Week of March 31

It’s Easter weekend, and Godzilla has risen at the box office with the second biggest opening of 2024, with only $2 million behind Dune: Part Two. The latest installment in the MonsterVerse, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, opens the weekend with an $80 million domestic opening for a $194 million global opening, already making its budget back. This is the second-biggest opening for a MonsterVerse film and the fifth-biggest Easter opening.

If you think there won’t be more installments of the MonsterVerse, whether in film or television, think again. In fact, I’m surprised Apple hasn’t renewed Monarch: Legacy of Monsters already, when the television series was critically and commercially successful and likely helped bolster momentum for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. It also showcased that Godzilla vs. Kong‘s pandemic success was not a fluke, and audiences are craving more giant-sized Kaiju entertainment, whether from Japan or America.

Perhaps Godzilla Minus One‘s recent success in North America (and its historic Oscar win) also helped maintain momentum for the MonsterVerse, though the films (and approaches to the Big G) could not be more different. Still, I’ll be curious to see how it ends its run, which could likely outpace Dune: Part Two’s current global tally of $626 million. My conservative prediction of $800 million could come to fruition, but I doubt it’ll reach the $1 billion some people have optimistically predicted.

As for Godzilla x Kong, we’ll see how it fares on its second weekend, but the blockbuster has practically no competition until The Fall Guy releases in May. Looking at the April slate, a few mid-budget films such as The First Omen, Monkey Man, Civil War, Abigail, and Challengers will probably fare well, but Godzilla x Kong may stay as the number one movie for the next four weeks. Apart from Spy x Family: Code – White, which has a chance to reach the top three in North America once it makes its way to theatres on April 19, the competition is small.

Of course, April is usually a ‘transition month’ for the winter/spring season to the summer, but last year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie dominated the month and made over $1 billion at the global box office. Next month could see an even quieter time at the movies than January and February, which its release slowdown was brought upon due to the effects of the writers and actors strike. Civil War has the potential to spark conversation and be a major hit for A24, but their opening weekends have always been on the low end since their release strategies differ from the usual mainstream blockbusters. It would only need $7 or so million to outpace Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s opening and become a major success for the studio.

But those aforementioned movies also indicate a paradigm shift within Hollywood, where lower budgets will result in better success. When Monkey Man becomes a commercial hit, it will likely lead to more creativity behind the camera and less risk with ballooned budgets. Large-scale blockbusters will always exist, but the domination of franchise films will likely fade much sooner than later.

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Warner Bros): $80M – 3,861 theatres
2. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony): $15.7M (-65.1%) – 4,345 theatres
3. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros): $11.1M (-37%) – 3,136 theatres
4. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal): $10.2M (-38.2%) – 3,582 theatres
5. Immaculate (NEON): $3.2M (-38.9%) – 2,362 theatres
6. Arthur the King (Lionsgate): $2.4M (-43.7%) – 2,525 theatres
7. Late Night with the Devil (IFC Films): $2.2M (-22.1%) – 1,442 theatres
8. Tillu Square (Prathyangira Cinemas): $1.8M – 450 theatres
9. Crew (FunAsia Films): $1.49M – 485 theatres
10. Imaginary (Lionsgate): $1.4M (-49.7%) – 1,956 theatres

Source: Comscore