In news the theatrical industry has been waiting over a year to hear, Godzilla vs. Kong has absolutely annihilated every existing box office record set during the COVID-19 era, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that the latest installment in the MonsterVerse was released simultaneously on HBO Max.
The previous benchmark for a domestic opening weekend was Wonder Woman 1984‘s $16.7 million, which Adam Wingard’s creature feature almost doubled after hauling in $32.2 million. In fact, Godzilla vs. Kong made more in its first five days than Patty Jenkins’ DCEU sequel managed during its entire run in theaters.
Not only that, but the clash of the Titans’ $48.5 million five-day tally over the holiday period blows the previous record out of the water, easily surpassing the $20.2 million brought in by Christopher Nolan’s Tenet during Labor Day weekend. Godzilla vs. Kong also set the record for largest opening day after raking in $9.6 million on Wednesday, and secured the highest-grossing single day total thanks to earning $12.5 million on Saturday.
Internationally, the movie continues to play like gangbusters, adding a further $115.1 million from overseas to bring its worldwide gross up to $285.4 million. By comparison, the most commercially successful Hollywood blockbuster of the last year is Tenet, which made $363 million after spending a cumulative total of almost seven months in theaters, and Godzilla vs. Kong will no doubt shatter those numbers by this time next week.
All told, it’s a huge win for Warner Bros. and theaters in general, with the pic also becoming the fourth of the studio’s hybrid releases to top the domestic box office after Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Tom & Jerry, meaning there could finally be a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to business regaining some sense of normality.
