For a while it looked as though the box office might be returning to some degree of normality after Godzilla vs. Kong stomped onto the scene and smashed every existing COVID-19 era record to smithereens, which was followed up just a few weeks later by Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer: Mugen Train duking it out for the top spot in the first frame for a long time where two movies opened above $20 million.
The good news is that Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham‘s first collaboration in sixteen years has managed to nab the number one position, but the disappointing aspect is that Wrath of Man is estimated to have pulled in just over $8 million to do so, which is back to the typical standards of the last fifteen or so months.
That’s the lowest gross for a new release debuting at number one since Bob Odenkirk’s actioner Nobody arrived at the end of March, but Ritchie’s lower budgeted features have never really tended to put much of a dent in the box office anyway, while Statham is hardly known for his drawing power, although he can always be relied on to bring in a decent-sized crowd.
Of course, it was a foregone conclusion that Wrath of Man would top the charts this weekend given that it’s an action-packed effort from a recognizable director/star duo, so the biggest story might be the news that Demon Slayer has now overtaken Mortal Kombat domestically, with the highest-grossing Japanese movie ever made sitting on a cumulative haul of over $39 million, compared to the video game adaptation’s $37 million, which further reinforces the former’s credentials as a genuine international phenomenon.
