King of the Apes. King of the Monsters. Kings of the box office.
After just one weekend in theaters, Godzilla x Kong has not only proved itself as a box office success in its own right, but also taken home the accolade of ‘Best Opening Weekend of 2024 Thus Far’.
As reported by box office tracking outlet The Numbers, the latest in Legendary’s ever-growing Monsterverse posted an impressive domestic box office total of $80 million over the course of just four-days – a window which includes the film’s Thursday preview night as well as its first standard weekend.
The kaiju team-up adventure’s success was only compounded on the world stage, where in the same window, Godzilla x Kong pulled in a further $114 million, in doing so bringing its overall opening weekend total to a whopping $194,000,000.
Notably, this total snags the film the aforementioned title of ‘Best Opening Weekend of 2024 Thus Far’, barely beating out previous champion Dune: Part Two and its $182.5 million opening weekend ($82.5 million domestic, $100 million overseas) for the top spot.
Further, having pulled $10 million on its Thursday preview night, the film has also set the record for ‘Best Preview Night of 2024 Thus Far’.
RELATED: Kaiju History: Godzilla’s Greatest Rival Never Appeared In A Movie, Though Toho Tried Several Times
Of course, it should be noted that while Godzilla vs. Kong‘s performance is unexpected, it remains a legitimate question whether the film will continue to have any significant legs going forward.
While the film no doubt benefited both from releasing on Easter weekend and facing the lukewarmly-received Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire as its biggest competition, given how middling word of mouth has begun to drag down public interest in the Monsterverse sequel – particularly in regard to its stark lack of Godzilla himself – there remains a significant chance the film could slink off to a less-than-stellar conclusion to its run.
However, in further bolstering its hopes to at least continuing performing well, the film luckily faces no significant competition for almost two weeks, as the next big Hollywood release, A24 and Alex Garland’s Civil War, does not hit theaters until April 12th.
And from there, the next film that could be considered a ‘blockbuster competitor’ to Godzilla x Kong, 20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, does not release until May 10th.
Given that the latest Monsterverse outing is set to stomp out its theatrical run completely unopposed, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that its lack of competition could end up being the deciding factor in the film climbing to ever further heights.
Ultimately, how these factors ultimately play into Godzilla x Kong‘s final box office remains to be seen – but until then, at least one thing is for certain: the people love themselves some giant monster action.
NEXT: Kong Becomes A Green Lantern In Final Issue Of ‘Justice League Vs. Godzilla Vs. Kong’