Mortal Kombat’s Now The Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movie Released During Pandemic Era

Since being released in the US last Friday, the rebooted Mortal Kombat has had a pretty positive response from audiences, if not critics, and appears to be bearing out Warner Bros.’ strategy of dual theatrical and HBO Max debuts. Moreover, the production had a solid weekend at the box office, taking in around $22.5 million, and is now the highest-grossing R-rated movie to arrive in cinemas during the pandemic.

Commenting on Twitter about Mortal Kombat‘s success so far, producer Todd Garner had this to say:

Thank you so much to all the fans! I am eternally grateful for all the positive comments and “constructive” criticisms we’ve received this weekend! Know that we are listening, and if we are blessed enough to go forward, will keep getting better (and hopefully bigger)! pic.twitter.com/VzskOnp0Pf

— Todd Garner (@Todd_Garner) April 25, 2021

Although there isn’t a lot of competition for Mortal Kombat right now, it did still have to overcome a challenge from Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, which took home a respectable $19.5 million. In a nice bit of coincidence, the video game adaptation also did very similar business to the 1995 version of the story, which opened to $23.5 million.

Warner Bros. has now enjoyed four of its pictures landing at the top of the box office in 2021, albeit with a limited playing field. According to Deadline, several of the tactics that helped Mortal Kombat perform well included releasing the first seven minutes of the feature as a preview online, and canny advertising spots to bring out customers in available areas of the country.

Meanwhile, a sequel now seems to be all-but-assured, and will hopefully satisfy fans that were disappointed with notable omissions from the Simon McQuoid-directed effort. Personally, I caught up with Mortal Kombat the other day, and while it’s not as effective as Godzilla vs. Kong, it’s still a decent action experience enlivened by a few significantly gory fatalities. Going forward, then, Warner Bros. and the rest of the majors must have renewed confidence about salvaging the summer blockbuster season, at least to a partial degree.