Box Office Report: Why Does Godzilla, The Largest Monster, Not Simply Eat the Other One?

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | April 19, 2021 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | April 19, 2021 |

It’s mid-April. That means a couple of things. One, the ravages of time spare no fool. And two, this is the point in the year where Hollywood would typically be kicking off its Summer season. Yes, the Summer box office season is now basically six months of the year. Yes, it sucks. But, of course, things are different this year. We won’t be seeing any major releases until later in the year when it’s actually Summer, as studios hedge their bets for a fully vaccinated target demographic and general hunger to leave the house. I do miss going to the cinema. I’m not sure I’m quite ready to do it though. I’d be curious to see some hard numbers of this.

For now, let’s check out the offerings we have and how they’re doing. For the third week in a row, Godzilla vs. Kong sits in the top spot. So far, it’s grossed just over $80 million domestically, which is practically the jackpot for Warner Bros. Nothing else in the box office chart right now even comes close, and that includes titles that have been out for over 20 weeks. It’s lost some steam from the previous weeks, but even with those dips, these are numbers that will allow Warner Bros. to breathe a little easier. Its worldwide gross just passed $390 million too, which is solid given how many major territories have closed their cinemas for the time being, including the UK.

The highest new title of the weekend is Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth, which brought in $506,000 from 547 theaters. Not too shabby for a micro-budget title distributed by Neon with little major marketing. This was a weekend of small indie titles getting their moment in the sun, as brief as it was.

A terribly reviewed action film called Trigger Point made $34,500 from 77 theaters. The horror titlw Jakob’s Wife grossed $30,000 from 101 theaters. The steamy romantic drama Monday starring Sebastian Stan landed $22,000 from 54 theaters, while the black and white nature documentary Gunda saw a $5,000 gross from five theaters.

This coming week sees the release of one major title with a wide distribution: Mortal Kombat (please read this title as a victory cry set to techno music.) It’s another Warner Bros. movie with simultaneous release on HBO Max but Godzilla vs. Kong had that and look at those numbers. Will audiences hunger for some classic movie violence away from their TVs?

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.