Godzilla x Kong: The New Empirewill roar to a monster-sized box office this month according to first projections. With King Kong and the world’s most famous, fire-breathing kaiju on a collision course with the gigantic Skar King, this super-sized creature smack-down is looking to take a bigger bite out of the box office than 2021’sGodzilla vs. Kong.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
The latest installment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse is forecast to make some serious noise when the film drops at the end of March. And, at the time of this writing,Boxoffice Prois predictingThe New Empirewill make somewhere between $41 million and $50 million during its opening weekend domestically. Even ifThe New Empireonly lives up to the low end of those numbers, it will still easily surpass the $31.6 million thatGodzilla vs. Kongtook on its opening weekend back in March 2021. Although the COVID-19 pandemic saw the movie receive a day-and-date release, the film did eventually make $470.1 million at the worldwide box office.
Should Boxoffice Pro’s numbers prove true and come to fruition,The New Empireis also expected to make between $91 million and $140 million during its theatrical run at the domestic box office.Godzilla vs. Kongonly managed to bring in just over $100 million domestically by the time it dropped from cinemas.
The MonsterVerse Is a Moneymaker
Box officetrends notwithstanding, it’s a great time to be a fan of kaijus. While each film entry in Legendary’s MonsterVerse has declined in profitability movie by movie, thecritically acclaimedMonarch: Legacy of Monstersand Toho’s Oscar-nominatedGodzilla Minus Onehave provided some of the best content in not only Godzilla’s 70-year history, but in the entire history of Giant Monster movies. Considering this success,Godzilla x Kongcould certainly capitalize on the current wave of popularity.
In 2014, director Gareth EdwardsGodzillaofficially launched Legendary’s MonsterVerse with a star-studded, dark and dramatic introduction.Godzillamade a staggering $93.2 million over its opening weekend, and the film ended its run with a middle-of-the-road $525 million worldwide. Even though the MonsterVerse’s second entry,Kong: Skull Island,didn’t fare as well over its opening weekend in 2017 ($61 million), the movie went on to make even more thanGodzilladid three years earlier: $569 million globally.
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Godzilla: King of the Monstersfollowed in 2019, but it posted the worst numbers for the MonsterVerse to that point, with a $48-million opening weekend and a total of $387.3 million. Things looked bleak forGodzilla vs. Kongin 2021, in no small part because of the pandemic. However,the “gloriously savage” MonsterVerse team-up, which finally gave fans plenty of big monsters bashing seven bells out of each other, bounced back to become one of the biggest hits of the pandemic era. With the two titular titans teaming up to take on a new threat inThe New Empire, there is every chance that the movie will continue to maintain the momentum the franchise has built over the last several years.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empireopens exclusively in theaters on March 29.
