Initially, box office analysts predicted that Logan stood a chance of beating Kong: Skull Island in North America this weekend. Well, positive word of mouth must have helped the iconic monster in his return to the big screen, as the next entry into Warner Bros. and Legendary’s MonsterVerse has now well exceeded expectations.
Kong: Skull Island made $61 million this weekend domestically, and with a solid haul of $81.6 million from overseas (not including China, where it debuts on March 24th), the movie currently has a worldwide total of $142.6 million. However, as strong a start as that may be, The Hollywood Reporter mentions that with a budget of $185 million before taking marketing costs into account, Kong: Skull Island will need to earn upwards of $500 million to be considered a hit. It’s definitely good that the film’s exceeded expectations, but with Beauty and the Beast set to be released next week, Skull Island may see a bit of a drop.
Logan, meanwhile, had a strong couple of days at #2, earning $37.9 million during its second weekend. That’s a fall of 57%, which is a surprisingly good figure for an X-Men movie, and as of right now, the threequel’s earned $154 domestically – impressive considering the fact it was made for only $100 million and comes with a more grounded tone and R-rating.
Circling back to Kong: Skull Island though, following 2014’s Godzilla, it’s intended to be a big step forward for the MonsterVerse, which will culminate in a massive crossover in 2020, and given how well everything has turned out so far, we’re certainly excited to see how the franchise continues to evolve from here.
