Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire nabs the MonsterVerse's biggest opening since 2014's Godzilla

Much like King Kong once scaled the Empire State Building, he has once again come out on top with The New Empire. As predicted, Godzilla x Kong topped the box office this weekend, easily defeating that other movie empire, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, in its second week. Contrary to predictions, however, the MonsterVerse flick took home an estimated $80 million in its opening weekend, well over the $50 to $55 million it was expected to make.

That makes Godzilla x Kong the second-biggest debut for a MonsterVerse movie, following only the franchise-launching Godzilla (2014), which opened to $93 million at the domestic box office, according to Variety. There’s a significant asterisk in that the previous installment, Godzilla Vs. Kong, opened in theaters while streaming simultaneously on HBO Max in 2021, when the movie biz was still pandemic-plagued. That movie nevertheless managed to gross $474 million worldwide, an improvement over the previous installment Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019). But Godzilla x Kong made a tidy $114 million internationally this weekend, bringing its worldwide debut to $194 million, and putting it on track to surpass Godzilla Vs. Kong’s box office total.