Why Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Blew Everyone Away At The Box Office

In its opening weekend, “Godzilla x Kong” eviscerated its modest $50 million studio projections to bring in $80 million at the domestic box office. This is far and away the best opening weekend for a MonsterVerse film since 2014’s “Godzilla.” By 2024 standards, it has topped every single opening weekend thus far — save for Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two,” which made $81.5 million in its first weekend. If you count Easter Monday, though, “Godzilla x Kong” trounced even “Dune,” claiming the crown with $87.7 million. “Godzilla x Kong” also stomped all over the fleeting box office king “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” already racing past its total domestic haul at press time by almost $13 million.

Globally, at the time of writing, “Godzilla x Kong” has made just over $202 million. While this number is certainly nothing to roar at given its $135 million budget, it must be pointed out that the difference between the film’s global and domestic earnings should end any dismissal of its success as merely “carried by overseas markets.” Though “Godzilla” is a Japanese import, there’s clearly still a massive appetite for kaiju stories in America as well.

“Godzilla x Kong” is sitting comfortably in third place on the current list of the Top 10 highest-grossing films of the year (although it has a significant gap to close to dethrone “Kung Fu Panda 4” and take the second spot). Given that it also had a better domestic opening than “Fast X,” “Wonka,” “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning,” and “Elemental” — all of which netted spots on 2023’s top 10 list — it’s probably safe to say “Godzilla x Kong” is a lock for this year’s final 10 highest earners.