Box Office: ‘Godzilla x Kong’ Crushes Expectations With $80 Million Debut

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” stomped to the top of box office charts, collecting a better-than-expected $80 million from 3,861 North American theaters in its debut.

Heading into the weekend, the monster mashup was projected to earn $50 million to $55 million to start. But “Godzilla x Kong,” which sees the two otherworldly beasts team up to save the planet, trounced those projections after benefitting from several factors, including audience enthusiasm (it landed an “A-” CinemaScore”) and premium large formats (accounting for 48% of ticket sales).

It’s the second-biggest debut for Warner Bros. and Legendary’s MonsterVerse, following 2014’s “Godzilla” ($93 million) but ahead of 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island” ($61 million), 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” ($47.7 million) and 2021’s “Godzilla vs.

Kong” ($31 million while on HBO Max). “Godzilla x Kong” also notched the second-largest domestic opening weekend of the year, barely trailing another Warner Bros.