Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire nabs the MonsterVerse's biggest opening since 2014's Godzilla

Much like King Kong once scaled the Empire State Building, he has once again come out on top with The New Empire. As predicted, Godzilla x Kong topped the box office this weekend, easily defeating that other movie empire, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, in its second week. Contrary to predictions, however, the MonsterVerse flick took home an estimated $80 million in its opening weekend, well over the $50 to $55 million it was expected to make.

That makes Godzilla x Kong the second-biggest debut for a MonsterVerse movie, following only the franchise-launching Godzilla (2014), which opened to $93 million at the domestic box office, according to Variety. There’s a significant asterisk in that the previous installment, Godzilla Vs. Kong, opened in theaters while streaming simultaneously on HBO Max in 2021, when the movie biz was still pandemic-plagued. That movie nevertheless managed to gross $474 million worldwide, an improvement over the previous installment Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019). But Godzilla x Kong made a tidy $114 million internationally this weekend, bringing its worldwide debut to $194 million, and putting it on track to surpass Godzilla Vs. Kong’s box office total.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a success beyond the MonsterVerse as well; it’s only a couple million short of the debut box office for the biggest domestic opening of the year, Dune: Part Two (at $82.5 million). In just its opening weekend, it’s the third-highest-grossing movie of the year worldwide behind the Dune sequel and Kung Fu Panda 4.

The box office needed a win, as 2024 has gotten off to a sluggish start. Per Variety, the beginning of the year saw box office revenue down 20% from 2023. However, Comscore puts this week’s ticket sales down just 6.3% from the previous year. As you can see from Box Office Mojo’s top ten for the weekend (below), that’s largely due to sequels and franchise entries, though we can’t underestimate the power of one really popular GIF.

Anyway, here’s your box office ranking from the weekend of March 31:

• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
• Dune: Part Two
• Kung Fu Panda 4
• Immaculate
• Arthur The King
• Late Night With The Devil
• Tillu Square
• Crew
• Imaginary