We’ve been waiting to hear the words that the American Box Office was healing. There were many attempts in the last few months to see if blockbuster films could revive the market. We’ve seen some movement in international markets but the local one was still suffering from the pandemic. So, there was some hope the further we get in 2021, we would see the market recover somewhat. It looks like it took for the release of Godzilla vs. Kong to accomplish that task. The latest entry in the Monstersverse opened over the Easter holiday and offered a 5-day opening of approximately $48.5M. It had an overall $32M kickstart to revive cinemas somewhat.
Welcome back to theaters, North America. Been awhile.
WB's GODZILLA VS KONG stomped into cinemas with a $32M debut and $48.5M over the 5-day Easter holiday.
— Exhibitor Relations Co. (@ERCboxoffice) April 4, 2021
Of course, these numbers aren’t what they use to be. We’ve seen blockbusters open upward to 200M, but this is a sign that the Box Office is recovering somewhat. Godzilla vs. Kong was well-received and managed to surpass expectations and was on par with another Easter opener, Ready Player One in 2018. We also have to keep in mind that the film is also available for HBO Max owners for free. As Forbes points out, the film is performing similarly to the usual Monsterverse fair in a non-COVID situation, such as Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ $48M opening two years ago. The way the film focuses on Kong as an action-hero facing off against Godzilla may also have played in the film’s favor, as the 50s icon has a stronger following in the West. It’ll be interesting to see how the next films will perform to see if we are witnessing an upward trend to normalcy.
