‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ roars to an $80M opening as ‘Ghostbusters’ slips to #2

nypost.com:

Godzilla-King Kong combo stomped on expectations as “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” roared to an $80 million opening on 3,861 North American screens, according to Sunday studio estimates.The monster mash-up from Warner Bros.

and Legendary Pictures starring Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry brought the second-highest opening in what has been a robust year, falling just short of the the $81.5 million debut of “Dune: Part 2.”Projections had put the the opening weekend of “Godzilla x Kong: Frozen Empire” at closer to $50 million.Last week’s No.

1 at the box office, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” was second with $15.7 million for a two-week total of $73.4 million.“Dune: Part Two” stayed strong in its fifth week, falling in the third spot with an $11.1 million take and a domestic total of 252.4 million.The last matchup of the two monsters from Warner Bros.

and Legendary, 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” had a much smaller opening weekend of $48.5 million, but that was a huge number for a film slowed by the coronavirus pandemic and released simultaneously on HBO Max.The newer film had the second biggest opening of the studios’ broader MonsterVerse franchise. “Godzilla” brought in $93.2 million in 2014.Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.