‘Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire’ rules global box office with $91m second session (2024)

Worldwide box office April 5-7

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire’ stomps to$91m

For the second weekend in a row, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros’ Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire proved a convincing winner at the global box office, with estimated takings of $91.0m – more than double second-placed film Kung Fu Panda 4.

The Godzilla film fell 53% in international holdover markets – a respectable drop from the previous session, which was Easter weekend. In North America, the drop was 60%.

After two weekends of play, total is $135.0m in North America, a hefty $226.0m for international, and $361.0m worldwide.

So far, The New Empire is 9% ahead of 2021’s Godzilla Vs. Kong in like-for-like international markets – but is performing wildly differently from that predecessor across the world.

The release of Godzilla Vs. Kong was significantly impacted by the Covid pandemic, and its fate suffered in Europe, for example. Conversely, in China, which had already rebounded by the time of the film’s release in March 2021, Godzilla Vs. Kong grossed $188.7m over the course of its lifetime – a massive chunk of the film’s $470.1m global total.

In Europe, The New Empire is running 280% ahead of Godzilla Vs. Kong at the same stage of release, and in Latin America it’s passed the final totals of both Godzilla Vs. Kong and 2017’s Kong: Skull Island.

Top international market so far for The New Empire is China, with $92.2m, ahead of Mexico ($23.7m), UK/Ireland ($11.2m), India ($10.2m) and Australia ($7.4m).

Key markets France and Germany opened the film at the weekend, achieving an estimated $2.9m and $2.7m respectively.

In France, premium formats and 3D accounted for 19.5% of total admissions, while Imax delivered 3.5% of total box office. In Germany, 57% of the box office came from 3D, and 4.1% from Imax.

Across all markets, Imax has now delivered $34m of the $361m grossed globally by The New Empire – 9.4% of the total.

The New Empire is now 77% of the way to matching Godzilla Vs. Kong’s lifetime total of $470.1m. It’s 93% of the way to reaching the $377.3m achieved by Godzilla: King Of The Monsters in pre-pandemic 2019.

However, the new film has further to go to match the $525.0m global total achieved by the Gareth Edwards-directed Godzilla reboot in 2014.

Another nine markets have yet to open The New Empire including the Middle East and Japan.

China release sends ‘The Boy And The Heron’ into third place globally

Studio Ghibli’s The Boy And The Heron is back in the global box office chart thanks to belated release in China. Winner of best animated feature at this year’s Oscars, Hayao Miyazaki’s film grossed $34.9m in China at the weekend according to local data gatherer Artisan Gateway, and an even more impressive $73.0m including previews, taking advantage of the Qingming Festival holiday. (Comscore puts the weekend number for the film globally at $34.0m.)

The China launch takes The Boy And The Heron to $226.6m across all international markets, including home territory Japan, while Gkids achieved $46.6m for the North America run. Global total is now $273.2m.

‘The First Omen’ begins with so-so $17.5m

Disney’s The First Omen landed in North America at the weekend, grossing an estimated $8.4m, and in 43 international markets, delivering an estimated $9.1m. The $17.5m global debut saw the film land in fifth place in the latest worldwide weekend chart.

For comparison, 2006 reboot The Omen debuted with $16.0m in North America – nearly double the opening number for The First Omen, which serves as a prequel to the original The Omen (1976), and is the sixth film in the franchise so far.

Top international market for The First Omen is Mexico, with an estimated $1.6m opening. Next come Indonesia and UK/Ireland with an estimated $700,000 each.

Key markets France and Germany welcome the film this week, as do several other territories including Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

The First Omen is chasing the $120.0m global total achieved by The Omen in 2006: $54.6m for North America and $65.4m for international.

‘Monkey Man’ swings to $13m debut

Universal enjoyed an estimated $10.1m North American debut for Dev Patel’s feature directing debut Monkey Man – landing in second place in the weekend chart. The India-set revenge action thriller also rolled into 27 international markets, grossing an estimated $2.6m.

Patel’s home market UK/Ireland led the international pack with an estimated $1.0m opening, ahead of Australia with an estimated $500,000. (New Zealand-headquartered Vista Group’s Numero has reported Monkey Man’s Australia opening as Au$787,000, which converts to US$518,000.)

Key markets yet to release Monkey Man include France, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and Japan.

Also for Universal, Kung Fu Panda 4 added another $35.3m globally at the weekend, taking the animated sequel’s tally to $410.4m. New markets New Zealand, Taiwan and Turkey collectively grossed an estimated $1.9m.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is now 79% of the way to reaching the $521.1m worldwide total achieved by Kung Fu Panda 3 in 2016. The film lands in key market South Korea this week – on April 10.

• Gower Street forecasts slightly stronger 2024 global box office of $32.3bn