The largest grossing blockbuster released during the pandemic thus far, Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong, has now crossed the $300 million international and $80 million domestic milestone mark. Last week, the film had taken the top domestic grossing spot from the Christopher Nolan-directed Tenet and now is only continuing to raise the bar for what a pandemic release can bring in at the box office.

This weekend saw a $12.2m increase internationally for a total of $309.7m and a $7.7 million increase in the U.S. domestically for a total of $80.5m. Adding that all up, the blockbuster made $19.9m this weekend for a total of $390.2m that it has grossed overall. These numbers are still nowhere near what a pre-pandemic release could look like, likely due to the fact that domestically approximately only 56 percent of theaters are open representing 92 percent of the marketplace. In places like Canada, theater closures are still significantly impacting reopenings.

Adam Wingard godzilla vs kong social
Image via WB

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Perhaps the most significant success has come in China, where Godzilla vs. Kong has become the highest-grossing film of any preceding it in the Monsterverse. The film has exceeded initial expectations overseas broadly as well where COVID-19 cases had been reduced far better than in the United States.

The film’s strong opening also marks the continued dominance of Warner Bros. at the box office who has had four of the top five grossing films domestically since the beginning of the pandemic. This weekend, the studio represents two out of the five leaders at the box office between Godzilla vs. Kong and Tom & Jerry. (The Bob Odenkirk action thriller Nobody sits behind the monster flick this week, followed by The Unholy and Raya and the Last Dragon.)

Director Adam Wingard had previously spoken to Collider in an interview about how much of the budget of his film, said to be $155 million, went to the special effects of the monsters which remain the best part of the film itself. With the film’s take home more than double that of its budget, it certainly seems to have been as much of a success as a studio could hope for in releasing a film during a pandemic.

The film’s release has been such a success that Warner Bros. even pushed back the release of the upcoming Mortal Kombat, likely to avoid having two releases be in competition with each other. The success of Godzilla vs. Kong is a likely sign that Mortal Kombat has the potential to make a run at the box office top spot as well when it releases next week.

As for Godzilla vs. Kong, the film is currently in theaters and available to watch on HBO Max, though only until the end of April. Unfortunately, the two stars regrettably will not kiss already to celebrate their box office success.

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