The movie isn’t even out yet in the United States and most mainstream critics need to stay mum until Monday, but these restrictions mean nothing to the two mighty beasts known as Godzilla and Kong! Their latest collaboration, Godzilla vs. Kong, is already bringing in the bucks.
Adam Wingard‘s take on the celebrated monster mash-up did outstanding business at the foreign box office, far-and-away the best Hollywood outing since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Grabbing $122 million according to The Hollywood Reporter, it was a much needed win for Warner Bros., which took a backwards-and-forwards bath with the release of last year’s Tenet. Christopher Nolan‘s would-have-been-a-hit tallied a mere $53 million opening by comparison.
But the creature feature looks ready to stomp some COVID-era records. It earned $70.3 million in China alone this weekend. China’s box office has gone into orbit in recent weeks, and while the Godzilla vs. Kong numbers are nothing compared to the Lunar New Year four-day weekend take of $424 million for Detective Chinatown 3, it is the first import from a major Hollywood studio to do this kind of business since 2019. (The 2020 global box office winners were substantially dominated by domestic Chinese hits.)
THR notes that Godzilla vs. Kong also did well in Australia, Mexico, and Russia.
The non-enormous reptiles and apes in the film include Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Shun Oguri. The film bashes into theaters stateside on March 31, with a simultaneous release on HBO Max.
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