‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' Roars to Monstrous $80M U.S. Box Office Opening

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Roars to Monstrous $80M U.S. Box Office Opening

Enemies-turned-frenemies proved just what the Easter weekend box office needed.

Warner Bros. and Legendary’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opened a monstrous $80 million at the domestic box office, well ahead of an expected $45 million to $55 million. The tentpole scored the second-best opening in the MonsterVerse Universe, no small feat for a fifth film in a franchise. It also delivered the fifth biggest Easter opening of all time, according to Sunday estimates.

Globally, it has a chance of crossing the $175 million mark in its launch (it’s even doing well in China, where Legendary East is handling the movie). Through Friday, its early foreign tally was $47.1 million. Its opening day haul in China was $13.7 million, including previews. These days, many Hollywood films don’t even get to that level for the whole weekend.

Many critics didn’t think highly of the film, but audiences disagreed, giving in an A- CinemaScore and 4.5 stars on PostTrack. It’s also playing to an ethnically diverse audience. In terms of gender, Males made up 67 of Friday’s audience, while 62 percent of those buying tickets were ages 35 and under.

Adam Wingard returned to direct the tentpole, which stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens. This time around, the two mega-monsters actually decide to put aside their differences and face a mysterious force that threatens to destroy their planet.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire had no major competition to speak as Sony’snew Ghostbusters movie, which opened last weekend, fell more than 64 percent.

But Godzilla and Kong aren’t the only reason why WB and Legendary have reason to celebrate. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two crossed the $600 million mark at the worldwide box office on Friday, compared to $406 million globally for the first Dune.

More to come.

This story was originally published March 30 at 8:30 a.m.

More from The Hollywood Reporter