Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hopes to leave a big footprint when marching into theaters around the globe this weekend after starting off with a record $10 million in Thursday previews, the best showing ever for Warner Bros. and Legendary’s MonsterVerse library, as well as the best preview of the year to date.
Warners is estimating a domestic weekend opening in the $45 million to $50 million range over the Easter frame, while at least one major tracking service is counting on $50 million to $55 million. Based on the preview turnout, New Empire could climb notably higher, unless it is front-loaded.
Related Stories
Overseas, New Empire is looking at an $80 million debut, which would put its global launch in the $135 million range.
The previews figure tops prior entries in the Godzilla MonsterVerse, with Godzilla (2014) opening to $9.3 million in previews, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) bowing to $6.3 million in previews and Kong: Skull Island (2017) nabbing $3.7 million.
Reviewers are divided, however. The film currently sports a “rotten” score of 55 percent, well behind the last film. But early polling shows the audience is much more enthusiastic.
Adam Wingard returned to direct the tentpole, which stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens. This time out, the two mega-monsters actually decide to put aside their differences and face a mysterious force that threatens to destroy their planet.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has no major competition to speak of and will easily find more Easter eggs than other films, including the new Ghostbusters movie, which opened last weekend.
