TAGGED AS: Film, Lionsgate, movies, Warner Bros.
(Photo by Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures)
The people-may-be-comfortable-going-back-to-theaters narrative that erupted last week may have been a bit premature. Or we’re just seeing a word-of-mouth reaction to a frontloaded film over a holiday weekend. It’s hard to tell these days. Godzilla vs. Kong was not exactly facing major competition and won the weekend handily with $13.3 million. But it is those mid-range films that will begin to tell us just how spread out attendance is going to be, and with films like The Unholy and Voyagers filling those voids, we are still just dipping our toes into what the theatrical comeback is going to look like.
(Photo by Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures)
The immediate good news on Godzilla vs. Kong is that it has easily become the highest-grossing film since the pandemic began last March, passing Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. That much was inevitable after grossing over $48 million in its first five days of release. The next milestone it hopes to reach – other than surpassing Godzilla, King of the Monsters’ worldwide gross of $386 million (it currently stands at $357 million) is that of the once-fabled $100 million domestic plateau. The baby steps to the milestone after that will come much quicker for the next blockbuster, but does this film at this time have a real shot? So, let’s examine.
Holding a film now to the standards of the great normal is not ideal, but we can try to make it correlate as best we can to current times. Godzilla vs. Kong dropped 58 percent in its second weekend. The higher the start, the higher the drop in these times. Wonder Woman 1984 dropped 67.1 percent in December after a $16.7 million start. More theaters plus vaccinations puts GvK with a 92.8 percent increase in its three-day weekend and a drop 9.1 percent better. That is fair progress. Now in the history of March releases that had grossed between $64 million–$75 million in their first 12 days, only two of the nine (2017’s Power Rangers and 10,000 B.C.) failed to reach $100 million, except even those films grossed $14.2 million and $16.7 million in their second weekend (and were the only two of the lot to not gross at least $20 million). Godzilla vs. Kong grossed $13.3 million. With theaters still at limited capacity.
Now, GvK has a slight edge on those films gross-wise to date with $69 million estimated through Sunday. And currently we are seeing much smaller drops in third weekends amongst the pandemic films. Raya and the Last Dragon dropped just 10.2 percent and The Little Things fell only 2.6 percent. Even Chaos Walking fell just 14.5 percent. One thing they all have in common is the ability to last in a marketplace with lesser competing options for the public to experience in theaters. Raya had made $17.17 million in its first 12 days and has more than doubled that total since. The Marksman with Liam Neeson had only grossed $6.35 million in 12 days and has managed to scrounge out over $15 million. GvK will still have another weekend at No. 1 and will fall back with Mortal Kombat the week after, at which time it should settle into second place for another three weeks until Spiral comes out, and there is no reason to believe it will not still be in the top five come Memorial Day weekend. That’s a long road ahead, but it is still very possible that $100 million could be there at the end of it.
(Photo by Lionsgate)
The only big theatrical contender this week was Lionsgate’s Lord of the Flies in space, aka Voyagers, which was not liked by critics (with a 27% Tomatometer score) or cared about by audiences this weekend grossing a paltry $1.3 million. Sure, it is only the 12th film of 2021 to open with more than a million, but it could not even crack the top 10 on that small list. Even the long-delayed Chaos Walking managed to open to $3.77 million, one of only seven movies this year so far to gross over $10 million.
Beyond that, it was a week of small drops. Nobody retained its second-place spot falling just 12 percent to $2.65 million. It has now crossed the $15 million line. Last week’s No. 2, The Unholy, fell to third with only a 23 percent drop. It’s total now stands at $6.7 million. Tom & Jerry dropped only 17 percent and has run its total to over $41 million. Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon actually increased business this week, going up 2 percent and grossing $2.1 million for a total of $35 million.
April 9: On this day in 2017, the Jennifer Lawrence/Chris Pratt sci-fi film, Passengers, grossed $5,876. That was enough to push it over the $100 million mark on its 110th day of release. (What an anniversary for Voyagers to be opening on with its unwanted advances in space premise.)
April 10: This is a big date for films crossing the $100 million line. In 1999, Dreamworks’ animated The Prince of Egypt made $151,406 to get there on day 114 of its release. Steven Spielberg got their faster in the director’s chair in 2018 when Ready Player One grossed $2.34 million to reach the mark in just 13 days. Though eight years earlier in 2010, the remake of Clash of the Titans took in $11.04 million to reach the milestone in just nine days. Much faster than Vin Diesel’s family film, The Pacifier, did in 2005 when it grossed $739,633 on its 38th day. Diesel got there a lot quicker – and doubled it – 10 years later when Furious 7 made $18.86 million in its eighth day to cross the $200 million line.
April 11: Turns out these are big dates for one Vin Diesel as Fast and Furious is his third film on the list this week. His return to the franchise made $10.43 million in its ninth day to cross $100 million. Three years later on this date, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax grossed $795,795 to pass $200 million on its 41st day of release. That is a milestone that Fast and Furious would not reach.
Fresh from its debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Ben Wheatley’s latest horror film, In The Earth, moves up two weeks to April 16. The Neon film currently has a 77% Tomatometer score. If horror is on your mind also be on the lookout for Barbara Crampton taking the lead on Travis Stevens’ Jakob’s Wife. The SXSW premiere has an 81% Tomatometer score.
76%
Godzilla vs. Kong
(2021)
84%
Nobody
(2021)
28%
The Unholy
(2021)
93%
Raya and the Last Dragon
(2021)
24%
Voyagers
(2021)
29%
Tom & Jerry
(2021)
40%
The Girl Who Believes in Miracles
(2021)
85%
The Courier
(2020)
100%
Vakeel Saab
(2020)
21%
Chaos Walking
(2021)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on WGN Radio with Nick Digilio as well as on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
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Thumbnail: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures
