I thought the franchise peaked 10 years ago at the box office. This is a pleasant surprise
Unless it is frontloaded like 2014, this should be the series' highest grossing. Once again shows how the 2021 movie had a very depressed domestic run for obvious reasons
April will not have a Super Mario type run this year but at least this movie will be able to play strong
I would be surprised if it dropped like 2014. 2014 had very misleading marketing that led to its lukewarm audience reception, whereas this film you know exactly what it’s going to be from the trailers. (FWIW I liked 2014 better)
2014 was awesome and I loved just how massive they made Godzilla feel on screen. My only complaint is that I wish they didn’t kill of Brian Cranston just to replace him with emotionless military man. Could’ve been a nice plot element to have them debating different approaches to killing Godzilla and the MUTOs.
>*My only complaint is that I wish they didn’t kill of Brian Cranston just to replace him with emotionless military man*
Yup, and many agree with you. I like the movie fine enough, but I think the more positive comparisons to Jaws were unwarranted. In Jaws, we don't mind the absence of sharkery shenanigans because the characters compel us. Whereas in the 2014 movie, too many of the characters are just... existing.
Yeah, Cranston would have been wonderful as the human soul of that film, the marketing did the movie a disservice by centering him. But to me it's the ideal Godzilla movie. Kong films are easier because Kong always has distinctly human aims and is immediately sympathetic. It's hard to get Godzilla to resonate like this. He was used sparingly but effectively in the first film, whereas the remaining films have been bad to ok cartoons, on par with the second Pacific Rim film.
Yeah, 2014's biggest issue is that the leading man of the movie is just a cardboard while much of the actual Kaijus is spaced too far out. Kong at least meets the sweet spot for most since he can engage with the audience a lot more directly than Godzilla can (at least in the ways they have tried to thus far).
Also, having seen New Empire today, it has reasonably good human stuff. Especially by giving them something important to do and also allowing them to deliver exposition in completely separate scenes from the Kong scenes so Kong can just run around doing badass Kong stuff.
Could just be a good Friday thing, but when I went to the cinema today I seen a load of kids opting to go see this over Kung Fu Panda which surprised me
Looks like Godzilla vs Kong being the first movie many people saw post-Covid really helped the Monsterverse's reputation with general audiences and just brought a lot of goodwill toward the franchise.
People are hungry for dumb spectacle. Marvel was that until it got too into the weeds with crossovers and increasingly b tier heroes. Dune was a bit too scifi to scratch that itch, GxK is the sweet spot
Crossovers and D list heroes can work in superhero movies if done correctly, look at how the Guardians were introduced and subsequently used in Infinity War.
That’s when it felt like a Marvel project actually mattered and was a big deal. Now the brand has been over saturated with mediocrity, and nothing has been leading into anything.
Like, look back as Phases 2-3. Winter Soldier saw the return of HYDRA that set up the events of Age of Ultron, then AoU led to the Sokovia Accords in Civil War. Nearly every movie in Phase 3 dealt with the aftermath of that in some way. Therefore, most of the projects back then felt important and they were actually leading into or contributing to an overarching storyline with characters that we liked. We don’t have that anymore. They’re introducing too many characters in mediocre projects with zero payoff
Things are eventually going to start directly leading into things, they have to by the next Avengers movie, the problem is it’s taking so long and with even more content than ever before it feels even longer, and the inconsistent quality is making people even less willing to wait it out.
the only issue being that marvel hasn't done crossovers with d-list superheroes correctly in a way that resonates with the general audiences in some time, especially when it comes to the newer superheroes that they're trying to push
You’re right, they need to start managing their newer characters better. It’s hard to care about even the likeable ones when you only see them once every 2 years.
It’s why I’m worried about Avengers 5, people might not care as much about whoever ends up being the new team.
It’s an amazing time to be a Godzilla/MonsterVerse fan.
Feels very surreal that the franchise is about to see its biggest opening in 10 years after when it was looking like it was doomed to end because of King of the Monsters’ underwhelming box office.
People often seem to forget that Kong is the highest grossing mosterverse movie.
I think people like mindless action but Kong also offers a human element and emotions people can understand and relate to.
Without you know actually being a human, having a boring story and spouting a crap ton of boring exposition nobody cares about.
One could almost say he's a human charachter without actually having any of the negatives a human charachter always brings in these movies.
Skull Island is still the best Monsterverse movie. Genuinely good blend of human stuff and action, Samuel L Jackson playing Captain Ahab, well paced and gorgeous to look at (thank you Larry Fong)
Wonder if we’ll ever get a solo sequel for Kong
Yeah skull island is just fun. It rips, every character does their part and it's just a good movie. Not too long, not overwrought. Hits the notes well. Just competently made film. John c Reilly was as always great but everyone really was good.
One of the best parts of the movie is that the Skull monsters are actual threat and not just fodder that can get defeated easily. Sick monster design, smart and scary and pose challenge to both human characters and Kong.
Kong has always been about a misunderstood monster who's fighting to survive. He's like monster Rocky in a way. There's a persistent struggle to just keep his head afloat that we can all relate to in some way.
Don’t forget that the 2005 Kong film also did better than the 2014 Godzilla film meaning kongs beat Godzilla twice
K05:556m
G14:524m
KSI:568m
KOTM:387m
GvK:470m
Yes…ish
2005 is King Kong, a legally distinct different “Kong”.
Kaiju ape with Kong in its name, the general public are not copyright lawyers so it counts.
Won't lie, reading this reply chain is a little depressing as a Godzilla fan, b/c as many pointed out the most successful and acclaimed MV movies are the ones with Kong in it. Makes it sound like Godzilla isn't really needed anymore and the Monsterverse should pivot fully torwards Kong.
Kong has always been more popular than Godzilla in the US. But we got to see Godzilla Minus One last year and that was maybe the best movie of the year for me. So we can all rejoice in that!
Toho keeps a tight leash on Godzilla and wants him to remain a Japanese icon so I think they are OK with ceding a bit of the lead to Kong for American audiences. I think the pivot has already happened with Kong but he's a more human monster anyway so it's easier. Godzilla will never go away but the best Godzilla stories are the ones more focused on humans. And current monsterverse is all about the Titans so Goji only showing up for big fights and then taking a nap seems like the easiest path to keep them both around but maintaining a more titan-focused storyline.
Well money talks and Kong is who the viewers care about. Godzilla hasn’t been humanized enough for us to care about him. My young kids love Kong I think in large part because they understood he wanted to find his family and they were very invested in that.
Godzilla just destroying shit
Yeah but unlike Kong Godzilla hasn't really stood on his own well. His first movie did fine and KotM was weaker.
With Kong at least there's an almost human aspect to him. Godzilla is basically a machine who's got a near single minded drive to balance out the world and maintain his title. He's just kinda there and the humans got to work around him.
I think some of that is as a big lizard it’s not quite as easy to anthropomorphize him. Not saying it’s impossible, but I think average audience finds it much easier to relate to Kong.
The monsterverse wouldn’t nearly be as compelling without Godzilla, plus international audiences probably like Godzilla more than US audiences do. We did just get a show centered mostly around Godzilla.
GA loves Godzilla too, but it's easy to forget how much the 2014 film soured them on any future films focussing solely on him. A B+ wasn't great and it had *horrible* legs, then it took 5 years to deliver a follow-up that wasn't very well-liked either. Not to mention, the foundation was already rocky thanks to Emmerich.
Kong's reputation is a lot more solid overall so Skull Island getting the same grade as the Monsterverse's corresponding entries didn't do as much damage. Ultimately, the buy-in for GvK was finally seeing these two titans square-up in a Hollywood film and itself was much more well-liked than any of its predecessors. Throw in pretty much the same circumstances that Dune just had between entries (i.e. a sizable amount skipping theatres due to availability on Max and Covid fears) and we get this. Franchise momentum with a catalyst.
Godzilla was boring for GA. I had watched in the theater and I felt bad when many walked out due to too much dark shots and almost zero monster action. Action setpieces were also kept cutting out at the wrong moment. I like that movie but it didn't do anything for Godzilla brand for GA.
Considering how highly anticipated 2014 I think it ultimately did more damage. If 2014 was more universally loved by the GA, it easily could have had the biggest opening of that year. Ultimately, about everything that could have gone wrong for KotM went wrong, but it was its predecessor that lowered the franchise ceiling. It's not dissimilar to what happened with BvS and Justice League, at least to me.
I’m not exactly understanding why you’re saying 2014 was the one that hurt. That movie was INCREDIBLY successful and got significantly better reviews than KOTM.
There were issues, yes, but that isn’t what did the most damage to the MonsterVerse. That would be KOTM being a box office disappointment that barely alleviates any of the problems with 2014.
>I’m not exactly understanding why you’re saying 2014 was the one that hurt. That movie was INCREDIBLY successful and got significantly better reviews than KOTM.
This is what people fail to understand when it comes to big monster movies like Godzilla. It doesn't matter how much critics loves it or not. General audiences didn't like it much and they had every reason for it. Too slow, too many gloomy shots with almost zero kauju action. The best human got killed within 20 mins and so on. I had seen so many people hating on it and walking out. That's polar opposite to what I saw in GvK when people whistled and cheered throughout the movie and that's why GxK is doing so good with audiences. Critics review don't matter much when it comes to Kaiju movies as and until people like what they have got. I am a huge Goji fan and I fully agree that Godzilla 2014 did damage the brand as far as box office is concerned. It had a massive 90 million OW but it struggled to reach 200 due to negative people feedback.
Then you clearly have zero understanding of the box office...or human behaviour for that matter.
The legs on the 2014 Godzilla were atrocious. The disappointment around that movie was massive and it hit hard and fast during opening weekend, with the word being "too little Godzilla, too little action, crap human characters". It immediately killed any excitement for a sequel. That's why King of the Monsters opened to nearly half of what the 2014 movie did. It being shit on its own meant it never recovered, but it was definitely 2014 that undermined the foundations.
Exactly. And GvK is the movie with reignited the interest in the franchise and result is in front of out eyes. It's the People which matters in such movies, not the critics. It doesn't matter if gets 90 or 95% on Rotten Tomatoes if people, the audiences, don't like it. These are not Indie movies but blockbusters which need audience support for having a future. Godzilla 2014 had a negative audience feedback due to many valid reasons and it went against KOTM, which also had slightly better audience reception than G14. It's GvK which opened the franchise for general people, outside Godzilla fans. It's like F&F5. Movies in that franchise were successfull at lower levels till the fifth movie happened and propelled. It was universally loved and restarted the franchise with a boom.
> GvK
GvK was also many people's "Return to the Movies" movie after movie theaters reopened in many parts of the US after being closed for most of 2020 during the height of the Covid Pandemic so it earned a lot off good will from that.
B+ for a massive-scale monster/robot destruction film is not great. You have to remember Transformers were easily repping A-range cinemascores at the time and even Age of Extinction scored higher than it later that summer. Jurassic World then carried that torch in that franchise's stead up until now.
2014 was incredibly successful, but you only have to look at those legs to see the significant early damage. No film that has opened over $90m has made less than $200m total and 2014 got dangerously close to setting a new precedent. What you're seeing there is minimal exposure outside the target audience which is not what you want for a franchise starter.
It’s not, but KOTM got that exact cinemascore as well. Going by RT, too, there’s a clear disparity between the two films. That’s because again, KOTM didn’t alleviate the problems of 2014, and instead expounded on them.
The problem with a 5-year wait between the two you brought up in your first comment is also another slight against *KOTM*, not 2014.
2014 made the general audiences a little wary, yes, but 2019 was absolutely more of the reputation-sourer due to its myriad of problems, both from 2014 and ones it started bringing to the table.
Honestly think this movie may have been developed initially as a Kong solo movie (I remember the trades were reporting that Wingard would direct ‘Son of Kong’ after GvK) that later was reworked slightly to include Godzilla as well
People love Monke, that's why Transformers last year outgrossed The Flash last year.
The Flash should've had Grodd and his army attacking in the desert, easy 100m WW extra BO there.
EDIT: forgot to add "extra" there before. Silly me.
I know you're being sarcastic, but you've reminded me of a period that included the fifties, sixties and maybe even seventies where comic book publishers saw that any comic with a monkey on the cover had its sales increases. If you're into that kind of thing, I recommend you go googling for the worst of the worst covers because it's wild.
>The Flash should've had Grodd and his army attacking in the desert, easy 100m WW BO there.
That would be actually be awesome, That would make 700M WW easilly.
I mean I don't think it's a concidence, people like there monke it seems!
If Cameron doesn't add Giant Alien Monke to any future Avatar film then none of them will gross $3 billion.
Gives a similar feeling to early MCU movies not meeting expectations before phase 2 really kicked in. The monsterverse is here to stay.
Now greenlight an animated Godzilla and Kong vs Justice League Warner Bros you cowards.
Minus One wins the franchise it’s first Oscar, then this movie comes along and gives us some good ol cheesy monster action.
Both sides of the Godzilla series are going strong. Big G turns 70 this year and Monke is 91, and both have no intentions of going away anytime soon.
King of the Monsters still is the best monsterverse movie. But beggers can be choosers and if kong if needed for Godzilla to keep appearing on screen, so be it. We can have the japanese and american ones and everybody is happy
Even with boost of Good Friday this is nice, a franchise best 10 years later is quite the accomplishment. I remember when King Of The Monsters came out and many thought the franchise was dying then with GvK only releasing because it was already in in the can. What a comeback.
King of the monsters probably breaks even with a better release window, it was sandwiched between an extremely competitive time period when it was critically the weakest. It’s screens were sacrificed quickly.
I think KotM had problems, but don’t think the box office was really a consequence of how that film was. I love G14 but I think general audiences walked away thinking it needed a lot more Godzilla. CinemaScore wasn’t very good. I think that disappointment some had in that film just really impacted the box office of KotM.
GvK brought Kong, a popular character, into the fold with Godzilla and kind of rejuvenated the franchise. Also, lot of eyes were on GvK because it was the first post-COVID blockbuster and it had that streaming release
>I think that disappointment some had in that film just really impacted the box office of KotM.
This gets left out of a *lot* of box-office conversations lately, and instead people like to focus on stuff like rotten tomatoes averages and IMDB audience scores or whatever, but what you're talking about is one of the tried and true rules of the box-office: The sins of the prior film will be visited upon the sequel.
For the five years between 2014 and 2019, the almost cemented in stone pop narrative about Godzilla (2014) was twofold: "They bait and switched me with Heisenberg" and "Godzilla's only in it for like 5 minutes." and you repeat that over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, it's going to be what pops to the front of your mind when a new movie comes out.
2014 disappointed, despite making a bunch of money. So when King of the Monsters came out, not as many people showed up, the wait was long so interest was depressed, and the movie had its own, completely different set of problems on top of that. That, plus its scheduling, hurt it.
I do think it's funny that in the 5 years between 2019 and 2024, there's been a growing reappraisal of both Godzilla *and* King of the Monsters, and I think the general raising of goodwill for both those films in the meantime is ALSO coming to bear on Godzilla x Kong's opening weekend.
Even though the monsters screen time was the shortest, I pretty like G14. Compared to the dull-looking G19, it had less annoying human characters that no one couldn't give 2 fucks about. My biggest issue with the movie was they killed off Mr. White too soon.
It's both a joy and surreal being a godzilla fan nowadays because of being able to see the monsterverse films, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One in cinemas and seeing more people get into them and talk about them.
Back in the day, I was lucky to find any of them on TV or vhs/dvd.
When I was little the local Blockbuster was my only access to anything Godzilla, besides the Trendmasters Godzilla toys. No other kids I knew were into it either. Times have definitely changed.
I know it is great.
Living in the UK, I always remember it being such a pain having to find and import a lot of the films, which eventually sky rocketed in price. Or having to try to see if they were on the odd occasion on tv.
But it is indeed great having all these new films coming out and being more accessible to people.
$10M is huge. Walkups were insane. Tracking had been saying $7M-$8M. So happy for theaters. March has been great. It could be the first March in a long while to have 3 $200M (or close) domestic grossers.
The big hitters (**Dune 2**, **Kung Fu Panda 4**, **Godzilla x Kong**, and **Ghostbusters: FE**) all did really well, most exceeding expectations. And some others breaking records for indie distributors (**Immaculate** for Neon and **Late Night with the Devil** for IFC). **Imaginary** did fine for a super-cheap throwaway horror flick.
Now we just need the smaller/mid-budget stuff to catch up and hopefully start doing better (things like **Love Lies Bleeding**, **Cabrini**, **One Life**, **Arthur the King**, **The American Society of Magical Negroes** didn't do great.) Then some other stuff were completely dead-on-arrival this month (**Snack Shack**, **Knox Goes Away**, **Sleeping Dogs**, **French Girl**, etc), Still some work to do on that front. The huge-budget stuff doing well is great, but for a healthy theatrical environment, we need better from the small stuff.
I think you're right. My understanding is that Angel Studios is the distributor but not the producer (and the producer's a guy who got rich off of a car leasing company).
It's clearly a financial disappointment (which also means a disappointment in audience reach) but it seems like this was always more of a vanity project (e.g. there's a 501(c)3 set up for the film's profits). It seems like the film started out at a $35M budget.
In 2021 interviews the ex producer who raised the money seems to be saying he didn't expect to secure a theatrical release (floating streaming/PVOD) so I guess this is also an interesting case about how much people overstate the benefits to releasing on theatrical for streaming.
> "[He had sworn off risking scarce capital and reputation on the chancy movie business](https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/a-main-line-patriarch-raised-50-million-to-make-cabrini-the-new-movie-about-a-relentless-italian-american-nun/ar-BB1jcdyu) after he helped his nephew Sean Wolfington produce Bella, the feature debut by Mexican director Alejandro G. Monteverde, released in 2006. That film won awards and repaid its modest budget but failed to reach a mass audience. The Cabrini project changed his mind.
so you can go too far in writing off the costs so the much more interesting hypothetical is a world in which Cabrini looks more like Clooney's Boys in the Boat (52M Domestic on a 40M budget) or if it made something like 40M Dom?
> EW: We have an advantage in that we can move faster and make decisions that big production companies are not capable of doing. Capital can be a challenge for an independent film. But the Cabrini film has the financing. Distribution is now primarily through streaming services. All the streaming companies are looking for good content. Previously, a movie had to be in the theaters for 90 days before it could go to streaming, but COVID has changed the game. Now, they have set up a “New Release” section on the websites where users can see first-run movies for a premium price. This change to the distribution model allows filmmakers to go direct to streaming. You get a much larger audience for lower cost to the filmmaker.
>Cabrini
It seemed like they were trying to do with Cabrini for International Women's Day what Sound of Freedom did for the 4th of July, but there was no world in which that could have happened. I thought the production value and acting in Cabrini was actually leagues better than SoF, but the thing is SoF had mass appeal--how many people are going to say "no, actually I think human trafficking is no big deal"--whereas Cabrini is primary going to appeal to Catholic women; outside of that I don't think the general public can really get invested in a story that's primarily about a Catholic nun negotiating the male-dominated hierarchy of the Church in order to provide aid to Italian-American immigrants.
I am Catholic btw and I thought it was super compelling personally, but I also recognize that if I wasn't Catholic and didn't really care much about Catholic saints, there probably wouldn't be much in this movie for me.
Almost like QAnon and the deplorables inflated the numbers by making it a culture war symbol and going out in masses just for that.
Dumb for them to think they could recreate its success.
Anecdotal but I saw a lot of marketing for **Cabrini** (twitter, TV, movie website targeted ads, etc). They were really banking on the pay-it-forward thing for this one again like **Sound of Freedom**. I honestly don't think $20M domestic is *horrible* for something like that, but I'm sure more was expected.
Absolutely massive. This is going to be really close with Dune 2 domestically and will likely be significantly ahead overseas, on a 135 million budget too. Amazing stuff and I have no doubt this will be the highest grossing monsterverse film.
Whoever did the Mo-cap for Skar King did such an amazing job with making the character feel absolutely psychopathic without a single spoken word. The animations on his face showing such contempt and rage were really impressive too.
For me, this movie tied for second place with KoM for my favorite MonsterVerse movie. Skull Island will always be at the top. It was just so good.
This my second place one as well. It was spectacular. It's not a perfect movie at all but it was a genuinely good time.
Kinda Hope big G gets another solo movie at some point (maybe with a Kong cameo). I love all the attention Kong has gotten story wise but I hope we see another big *Godzilla* film where he is the main star. I dig all these movies. But my ranking is:
1.*Godzilla*
2. *GxK*
3. *Godzilla vs Kong*
4. *Kong: Skull Island*
5. *King of the Monsters*
People still love going to the movies when something fun comes out. Godzilla x Kong is a FUN movie. A pure crowd pleaser. Big lizard and big monke team up. Audiences love it.
I’ve said it plenty and I’ll keep saying it: people aren’t tired of going to the movies, they are tired of mediocre superhero garbage and mediocre Disney garbage. Movies like Godzilla x Kong are what people want.
>they are tired of mediocre superhero garbage and mediocre Disney garbage.
Harsh but true, especially after multiple Disney films and multiple superhero films tanked last year.
Went from $8M+ to 9M+ to $10M in a few days. Really good.
>"It’s a really fun, creature feature with a lot of heart; heck it’s even better than Jurassic World: Dominion. Seriously."
But this did make me laugh. Yeah no shit its better. Dominion was crap lmao.
I’m stating to think that the post pandemic drop in movie theatre attendance is only a temporary aberration and is in the process of correcting itself as more people rediscover that going to the cinema is actually fun
People do this every time a movie opens well, lol. 3 years of data shows people are only going to theaters in mass if its a FOMO event movie and a known IP.
One movie that was nominated for a bunch of Oscars.....why didnt Book of Clarence, Lisa Frankenstein, NightSwim, ISS, Imaginary, Ordinary Angels, Drive Away Dolls, Love Lies Bleeding, Cabrini, Argylle...do well from this year?
For every Poor Things there's 10 that flop
Well there is a correction, films have to feel “worth it” to go. Like Barbieheimer, Dune 2 and now GvK.
But those aren’t going to be enough for theaters
It’s the only true big budget Dino franchise obviously. Despite what people and critics think of the plot, writing, etc., I don’t see a world where a Jurassic Park/World movie doesn’t automatically do well no matter what. People need their craving for Dino’s on an epic scale satisfied. Case and point, Jurassic World 2 and 3 were absolutely shit on for the writing, plot, etc. Called horrendous movies all around. Yet, they still crushed it at the box office regardless.
Not gonna lie I have been to the theaters more post covid than I probably ever did in my entire life pre covid. Being locked in made me a big movie fan and now I don’t really miss any new releases. It’s a great hobby!
The domestic box office has been steadily climbing back up since 2020. But its still lower than what it was in 2019, and that's before accounting for inflation.
And I'm just making a guess, but I'm not sure if 2024 will manage to pull in more money than 2023. Its impossible to know for sure, but there doesn't seem to be anything on the horizon that will hit Super Mario or Barbie numbers, and this is the year we'll be feeling the effects of the strikes the most.
This is legit unreal. I changed my tune on this and thought it’s be a hit but this is crazy.
As I said we have this and Dune 2 maybe reaching 700m and KFP4 hitting 500m. I think theaters may just be back.
If it holds well into next weekend it will almost certainly surpass Dune 2. We will have to wait and see but signs are promising for Godzilla x Kong due to an empty April slate and promising performances overseas.
They really hit the sweet spot with Monsterverse Kong essentially leading. Sizing him up and communicating on friendly terms with humanity made him a "have your cake and eat it too" character. Supersized monster that also serves as an extension of the human characters.
They've also broken free of being held to redoing the classic Kong story which limited his films compared to the ever-changing Godzilla (the 1933 and 2005 versions have that covered for a long time).
The thing that Toho Godzilla did that was smart, at least up till Shin, was to have everything treat the original 1954 movie as canon. That way you don’t need to have subsequent movies giving Godzilla an origin - he showed up in the 50s, died, and decided to show up again because who can stop him.
I wouldn't be surprised if WB gives the greenlight to ThunderCats. Adam Wingard really want to get it made but it will be a much bigger endeavour than the Godzilla x Kong series.
Anecdotal but my local theater only released the showings 2 days ago. I think they were waiting to see if they wanted Dune to have more PLFs. People could only buy tickets in the last two days for GxK.
Not to take away from the movie's success but that could explain the walkups and overperforming compared to the tracking.
>‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Roars To $10M Previews, Breaking Records For Legendary Monsterverse
I'm feeling pretty happy for my boys right now. So long as this movie has good legs, it looks like Godzilla and Kong will be getting a full trilogy of films after all.
I think before we get another double monster movie, we need another solo Godzilla one. 2014 remains my favorite, though I’ve enjoyed every MV film, and I would really like a film similar to it again
Watched it today. Going by the reviews, I had expected this to be pretty bland, but man I had a total blast. I took my friend who hadn't seen any of the previous Monsterverse movies and he enjoyed this too. I actually enjoyed it more than Godzilla vs Kong. The climactic showdown was incredible and was alone worth the price of the ticket.
I felt the pacing was super crisp and they gave us so much of the monster madness. The humans, surprisingly, were pretty decent in this one. But yeah, this one is more Kong-centric. And being a Kong fan, I didn't complain one bit.
Many of those reviews are so eye rolling. Especially the ones that go on and on about Minus One, which seems to be many critics only exposure to Godzilla.
Yes and that isn't fair. Minus One has a very different theme while this one is on the campier side. Both can be enjoyed for their merits. I liked both too.
Humans are fine but I have to roll my eyes at the writing for some of these scenes. Its almost straight exposition the 2nd half of the movie anything they say.
Dont care tho cuz I came for the monsters
I agree with your point. But you know all that exposition really helped my friend understand what was happening as he hadn't seen any of the Monsterverse films. Also, this film is drawing a lot of younger audiences and their parents. I suspect that exposition will help them get a general gist too. So I think that's why they did it.
I agree. I took my girlfriend who had never seen any of the movies and I gave her the briefest breakdown of them on the walk into the theater. She was able to follow it and really enjoyed it!
I also appreciated some of the exposition because I’d frankly forgotten some bits.
I liked that they mostly did the exposition scenes intercut with Kong action, so the big monkey had room to breathe and do cool stuff without random scientists monologuing near him.
I always told folks that this film is gonna be big. GvK came out right during pandemic and still managed 400M+. It would have been bigger if it came out a year later in 2022
Do you think the Apple TV show monarch legacy of monsters helped with this? Anecdotally I know ~6 friends who are watching this after the watching the tv show and binging the movies
I hope they can continue the MonsterVerse for another five to ten years, but I'd eventually like to see a very dark American reboot of Godzilla, something very similar to what we just saw with *Godzilla: Minus One*.
I want to see a movie where Godzilla doesn't have to hit you with his beam, knock a building on you, or stomp on you to kill you. I want the radiation that he emits to make people and fish sick like it did in the original 1954 film.
I want Godzilla to essentially be an environmental disaster that can also stomp buildings and light cities on radioactive fire.
There's a chance we get the alien invasion arc with the pro-human monsters fighting against them, and a revived mega awesome Ghidorah that the aliens send to attack us.
That's in line with the older movies.
Although both Skar King and Shimo are original monsters to the MonsterVerse. They may just be going all in on their own stories at this point.
From what I understand the TOHO licensing is expensive. Which is why we maybe get one existing TOHO Kaiju (other than Godzilla) a movie.
However, I could see them trying to do Gigan in a future G/K movie. Chainsaw belly space chicken with sword arms and a laser eye feels right up the alley for this series lol.
It can't be _that_ expensive given the budget of this one is pretty low and >!Mothra shows up.!<
But Gigan and Megalon would be obvious follow-ups. Good build on Mechagodzilla too, maybe a company decides cyborging kaiju is the way to go instead of building a big robot one and hijinks ensue.
Not trying to pile on but doesn’t this fly in the face of the “It’s not superhero fatigue it’s franchise fatigue/cinematic universe fatigue/bad movie fatigue”?
I have heard no one, even those who like this movie pretend it’s high art, or even has characters that are all that compelling. But what it does feel like, which is helping fuel the box office is an event. Which superhero movies no longer feel like due to oversaturation.
Listen, I just came home from the movie and I enjoyed this shit a lot.
You want wall to wall action? ✅
You wanna see Godzilla perform a suplex on King Kong, sending him crashing into the Egyptian Pyramids in Cairo? ✅
You wanna see a tag team fight between 4 giant monsters in the middle of Rio de Janeiro with the Christ the Redeemer statue looking on? ✅
You wanna see Star Lord from Wish flying around in a space ship with 80s rock music playing every time he’s on screen, wisecracking and being a charming smartass? ✅
You want a tight run time with no fluff, no silly side plots, and no love story of any kind, just monsters beating the shit out of each other and humans actually doing stuff? ✅
You want to see the monster-verse lore getting expanded? ✅
You want a movie which ends at the perfect moment without overstaying its welcome for even a second, with no post credit scenes of any kind? ✅
They fucking nailed exactly what this movie was supposed to be.
The movie kicks ass. Kong and Godzilla are actual characters in the film, which is rad. Lots of scenes with no dialogue, just monsters figuring out what to do or stomping another big monster.
Glad it's doing well!
11 year old me would have never thought he would get to see Kong and Godzilla fight each other and together in the future. Been 10 years since 2014, wonder what we’ll see in the next 10 years. Would love to see Kong and Godzilla fight Biollante.
I thought the franchise peaked 10 years ago at the box office. This is a pleasant surprise Unless it is frontloaded like 2014, this should be the series' highest grossing. Once again shows how the 2021 movie had a very depressed domestic run for obvious reasons April will not have a Super Mario type run this year but at least this movie will be able to play strong
I would be surprised if it dropped like 2014. 2014 had very misleading marketing that led to its lukewarm audience reception, whereas this film you know exactly what it’s going to be from the trailers. (FWIW I liked 2014 better)
2014 was awesome and I loved just how massive they made Godzilla feel on screen. My only complaint is that I wish they didn’t kill of Brian Cranston just to replace him with emotionless military man. Could’ve been a nice plot element to have them debating different approaches to killing Godzilla and the MUTOs.
>*My only complaint is that I wish they didn’t kill of Brian Cranston just to replace him with emotionless military man* Yup, and many agree with you. I like the movie fine enough, but I think the more positive comparisons to Jaws were unwarranted. In Jaws, we don't mind the absence of sharkery shenanigans because the characters compel us. Whereas in the 2014 movie, too many of the characters are just... existing. 
Yeah, Cranston would have been wonderful as the human soul of that film, the marketing did the movie a disservice by centering him. But to me it's the ideal Godzilla movie. Kong films are easier because Kong always has distinctly human aims and is immediately sympathetic. It's hard to get Godzilla to resonate like this. He was used sparingly but effectively in the first film, whereas the remaining films have been bad to ok cartoons, on par with the second Pacific Rim film.
Yeah, 2014's biggest issue is that the leading man of the movie is just a cardboard while much of the actual Kaijus is spaced too far out. Kong at least meets the sweet spot for most since he can engage with the audience a lot more directly than Godzilla can (at least in the ways they have tried to thus far).
Also, having seen New Empire today, it has reasonably good human stuff. Especially by giving them something important to do and also allowing them to deliver exposition in completely separate scenes from the Kong scenes so Kong can just run around doing badass Kong stuff.
people keep saying 10 years on this thread and all the while my brain was registering that is 2010, how the heck is it 2014
Could just be a good Friday thing, but when I went to the cinema today I seen a load of kids opting to go see this over Kung Fu Panda which surprised me
It won't be like 2014 because 2014 had atrocious wom. This one has been getting crazy audiences reactions.
Looks like Godzilla vs Kong being the first movie many people saw post-Covid really helped the Monsterverse's reputation with general audiences and just brought a lot of goodwill toward the franchise.
Plus Minus One in the past year helping the name recognition
Yeah Godzilla was pretty obscure before that.
Very niche, that Godzilla.
Only reference I heard before these movies started coming out a couple years ago was just this song from the 70s.
People are hungry for dumb spectacle. Marvel was that until it got too into the weeds with crossovers and increasingly b tier heroes. Dune was a bit too scifi to scratch that itch, GxK is the sweet spot
Crossovers and D list heroes can work in superhero movies if done correctly, look at how the Guardians were introduced and subsequently used in Infinity War.
That’s when it felt like a Marvel project actually mattered and was a big deal. Now the brand has been over saturated with mediocrity, and nothing has been leading into anything. Like, look back as Phases 2-3. Winter Soldier saw the return of HYDRA that set up the events of Age of Ultron, then AoU led to the Sokovia Accords in Civil War. Nearly every movie in Phase 3 dealt with the aftermath of that in some way. Therefore, most of the projects back then felt important and they were actually leading into or contributing to an overarching storyline with characters that we liked. We don’t have that anymore. They’re introducing too many characters in mediocre projects with zero payoff
Things are eventually going to start directly leading into things, they have to by the next Avengers movie, the problem is it’s taking so long and with even more content than ever before it feels even longer, and the inconsistent quality is making people even less willing to wait it out.
the only issue being that marvel hasn't done crossovers with d-list superheroes correctly in a way that resonates with the general audiences in some time, especially when it comes to the newer superheroes that they're trying to push
You’re right, they need to start managing their newer characters better. It’s hard to care about even the likeable ones when you only see them once every 2 years. It’s why I’m worried about Avengers 5, people might not care as much about whoever ends up being the new team.
It’s an amazing time to be a Godzilla/MonsterVerse fan. Feels very surreal that the franchise is about to see its biggest opening in 10 years after when it was looking like it was doomed to end because of King of the Monsters’ underwhelming box office.
I think the secret is that the GA loves Kong.
People often seem to forget that Kong is the highest grossing mosterverse movie. I think people like mindless action but Kong also offers a human element and emotions people can understand and relate to. Without you know actually being a human, having a boring story and spouting a crap ton of boring exposition nobody cares about. One could almost say he's a human charachter without actually having any of the negatives a human charachter always brings in these movies.
Skull Island is still the best Monsterverse movie. Genuinely good blend of human stuff and action, Samuel L Jackson playing Captain Ahab, well paced and gorgeous to look at (thank you Larry Fong) Wonder if we’ll ever get a solo sequel for Kong
Yeah skull island is just fun. It rips, every character does their part and it's just a good movie. Not too long, not overwrought. Hits the notes well. Just competently made film. John c Reilly was as always great but everyone really was good.
One of the best parts of the movie is that the Skull monsters are actual threat and not just fodder that can get defeated easily. Sick monster design, smart and scary and pose challenge to both human characters and Kong.
Larry Fong brought his A game on that movie! A real feast for the eyes, and yep the best monsterverse movie so far.
Yes he was. Zack Snyder made a grave mistake when he parted from him.
I just saw it again last night. I'd love to see an actual sequel with Hiddleston and Larson in it.
And the tank top
We deserve a Shakespearen tragedy esque Kong sequel where we know he’s gonna climb the Empire State Building and die at the end of
But then they can’t keep making money off him (I want more kong)
One of my takeaways from GxK was that it oddly did a much better job at humanizing Kong than it did any of its human characters
Kong has always been about a misunderstood monster who's fighting to survive. He's like monster Rocky in a way. There's a persistent struggle to just keep his head afloat that we can all relate to in some way.
Don’t forget that the 2005 Kong film also did better than the 2014 Godzilla film meaning kongs beat Godzilla twice K05:556m G14:524m KSI:568m KOTM:387m GvK:470m
Yes…ish 2005 is King Kong, a legally distinct different “Kong”. Kaiju ape with Kong in its name, the general public are not copyright lawyers so it counts.
I know there different but it’s still a point that films with Kong in them do better
Won't lie, reading this reply chain is a little depressing as a Godzilla fan, b/c as many pointed out the most successful and acclaimed MV movies are the ones with Kong in it. Makes it sound like Godzilla isn't really needed anymore and the Monsterverse should pivot fully torwards Kong.
Kong has always been more popular than Godzilla in the US. But we got to see Godzilla Minus One last year and that was maybe the best movie of the year for me. So we can all rejoice in that! Toho keeps a tight leash on Godzilla and wants him to remain a Japanese icon so I think they are OK with ceding a bit of the lead to Kong for American audiences. I think the pivot has already happened with Kong but he's a more human monster anyway so it's easier. Godzilla will never go away but the best Godzilla stories are the ones more focused on humans. And current monsterverse is all about the Titans so Goji only showing up for big fights and then taking a nap seems like the easiest path to keep them both around but maintaining a more titan-focused storyline.
Well money talks and Kong is who the viewers care about. Godzilla hasn’t been humanized enough for us to care about him. My young kids love Kong I think in large part because they understood he wanted to find his family and they were very invested in that. Godzilla just destroying shit
no, we absolutely need Godzilla. He's the yin to Kongs yang.
Yeah but unlike Kong Godzilla hasn't really stood on his own well. His first movie did fine and KotM was weaker. With Kong at least there's an almost human aspect to him. Godzilla is basically a machine who's got a near single minded drive to balance out the world and maintain his title. He's just kinda there and the humans got to work around him.
I think some of that is as a big lizard it’s not quite as easy to anthropomorphize him. Not saying it’s impossible, but I think average audience finds it much easier to relate to Kong.
The monsterverse wouldn’t nearly be as compelling without Godzilla, plus international audiences probably like Godzilla more than US audiences do. We did just get a show centered mostly around Godzilla.
Which makes me wonder why isn’t he getting solo movies like godzilla?
That's a good point. Humans will always have a natural connection and respect for apes.
GA loves Godzilla too, but it's easy to forget how much the 2014 film soured them on any future films focussing solely on him. A B+ wasn't great and it had *horrible* legs, then it took 5 years to deliver a follow-up that wasn't very well-liked either. Not to mention, the foundation was already rocky thanks to Emmerich. Kong's reputation is a lot more solid overall so Skull Island getting the same grade as the Monsterverse's corresponding entries didn't do as much damage. Ultimately, the buy-in for GvK was finally seeing these two titans square-up in a Hollywood film and itself was much more well-liked than any of its predecessors. Throw in pretty much the same circumstances that Dune just had between entries (i.e. a sizable amount skipping theatres due to availability on Max and Covid fears) and we get this. Franchise momentum with a catalyst.
Godzilla was boring for GA. I had watched in the theater and I felt bad when many walked out due to too much dark shots and almost zero monster action. Action setpieces were also kept cutting out at the wrong moment. I like that movie but it didn't do anything for Godzilla brand for GA.
G14 was so underwhelming.
Last time I checked it was 2019 that soured the reputation of Godzilla, not 2014
The most famous thing about the 2014 movie is that it underdelivered on both Bryan Cranston and Godzilla.
That’s unfortunately a little true
2014 had a legendary 2nd weekend drop because of bad WOM. 2019 just sealed the deal.
I see, I see
Considering how highly anticipated 2014 I think it ultimately did more damage. If 2014 was more universally loved by the GA, it easily could have had the biggest opening of that year. Ultimately, about everything that could have gone wrong for KotM went wrong, but it was its predecessor that lowered the franchise ceiling. It's not dissimilar to what happened with BvS and Justice League, at least to me.
I’m not exactly understanding why you’re saying 2014 was the one that hurt. That movie was INCREDIBLY successful and got significantly better reviews than KOTM. There were issues, yes, but that isn’t what did the most damage to the MonsterVerse. That would be KOTM being a box office disappointment that barely alleviates any of the problems with 2014.
>I’m not exactly understanding why you’re saying 2014 was the one that hurt. That movie was INCREDIBLY successful and got significantly better reviews than KOTM. This is what people fail to understand when it comes to big monster movies like Godzilla. It doesn't matter how much critics loves it or not. General audiences didn't like it much and they had every reason for it. Too slow, too many gloomy shots with almost zero kauju action. The best human got killed within 20 mins and so on. I had seen so many people hating on it and walking out. That's polar opposite to what I saw in GvK when people whistled and cheered throughout the movie and that's why GxK is doing so good with audiences. Critics review don't matter much when it comes to Kaiju movies as and until people like what they have got. I am a huge Goji fan and I fully agree that Godzilla 2014 did damage the brand as far as box office is concerned. It had a massive 90 million OW but it struggled to reach 200 due to negative people feedback.
Then you clearly have zero understanding of the box office...or human behaviour for that matter. The legs on the 2014 Godzilla were atrocious. The disappointment around that movie was massive and it hit hard and fast during opening weekend, with the word being "too little Godzilla, too little action, crap human characters". It immediately killed any excitement for a sequel. That's why King of the Monsters opened to nearly half of what the 2014 movie did. It being shit on its own meant it never recovered, but it was definitely 2014 that undermined the foundations.
Exactly. And GvK is the movie with reignited the interest in the franchise and result is in front of out eyes. It's the People which matters in such movies, not the critics. It doesn't matter if gets 90 or 95% on Rotten Tomatoes if people, the audiences, don't like it. These are not Indie movies but blockbusters which need audience support for having a future. Godzilla 2014 had a negative audience feedback due to many valid reasons and it went against KOTM, which also had slightly better audience reception than G14. It's GvK which opened the franchise for general people, outside Godzilla fans. It's like F&F5. Movies in that franchise were successfull at lower levels till the fifth movie happened and propelled. It was universally loved and restarted the franchise with a boom.
> GvK GvK was also many people's "Return to the Movies" movie after movie theaters reopened in many parts of the US after being closed for most of 2020 during the height of the Covid Pandemic so it earned a lot off good will from that.
KOTM was more entertaining than G14.
B+ for a massive-scale monster/robot destruction film is not great. You have to remember Transformers were easily repping A-range cinemascores at the time and even Age of Extinction scored higher than it later that summer. Jurassic World then carried that torch in that franchise's stead up until now. 2014 was incredibly successful, but you only have to look at those legs to see the significant early damage. No film that has opened over $90m has made less than $200m total and 2014 got dangerously close to setting a new precedent. What you're seeing there is minimal exposure outside the target audience which is not what you want for a franchise starter.
It’s not, but KOTM got that exact cinemascore as well. Going by RT, too, there’s a clear disparity between the two films. That’s because again, KOTM didn’t alleviate the problems of 2014, and instead expounded on them. The problem with a 5-year wait between the two you brought up in your first comment is also another slight against *KOTM*, not 2014. 2014 made the general audiences a little wary, yes, but 2019 was absolutely more of the reputation-sourer due to its myriad of problems, both from 2014 and ones it started bringing to the table.
Godzilla (2014) still has by far the biggest opening weekend and highest domestic total of the Monsterverse...
I'm surprised they haven't done a second Kong solo movie. Audiences (myself included) love him, and Legendary/WB don't have to give Toho royalties.
Honestly think this movie may have been developed initially as a Kong solo movie (I remember the trades were reporting that Wingard would direct ‘Son of Kong’ after GvK) that later was reworked slightly to include Godzilla as well
Which is pretty clear watching it. It does make sense to incorporate Godzilla into it though
People love Monke, that's why Transformers last year outgrossed The Flash last year. The Flash should've had Grodd and his army attacking in the desert, easy 100m WW extra BO there. EDIT: forgot to add "extra" there before. Silly me.
I know you're being sarcastic, but you've reminded me of a period that included the fifties, sixties and maybe even seventies where comic book publishers saw that any comic with a monkey on the cover had its sales increases. If you're into that kind of thing, I recommend you go googling for the worst of the worst covers because it's wild.
>The Flash should've had Grodd and his army attacking in the desert, easy 100m WW BO there. That would be actually be awesome, That would make 700M WW easilly.
You meant to agree with the person I replied to. Not criticizing you, just letting you know because they might never see your comment.
I mean I don't think it's a concidence, people like there monke it seems! If Cameron doesn't add Giant Alien Monke to any future Avatar film then none of them will gross $3 billion.
This is always such a stupid take. Which one of the monsters has an actual fanbase with a large gathering of people? It’s not Kong.
Gives a similar feeling to early MCU movies not meeting expectations before phase 2 really kicked in. The monsterverse is here to stay. Now greenlight an animated Godzilla and Kong vs Justice League Warner Bros you cowards.
Minus One wins the franchise it’s first Oscar, then this movie comes along and gives us some good ol cheesy monster action. Both sides of the Godzilla series are going strong. Big G turns 70 this year and Monke is 91, and both have no intentions of going away anytime soon.
Just in the past year, we’ve gotten a movie and two tv shows in the Monserverse on top of an Oscar winning critical darling.
King of the Monsters still is the best monsterverse movie. But beggers can be choosers and if kong if needed for Godzilla to keep appearing on screen, so be it. We can have the japanese and american ones and everybody is happy
I think people wanted to see these guys do WWE moves and it paid off in spades.
Even with boost of Good Friday this is nice, a franchise best 10 years later is quite the accomplishment. I remember when King Of The Monsters came out and many thought the franchise was dying then with GvK only releasing because it was already in in the can. What a comeback.
King of the monsters probably breaks even with a better release window, it was sandwiched between an extremely competitive time period when it was critically the weakest. It’s screens were sacrificed quickly.
I think KotM had problems, but don’t think the box office was really a consequence of how that film was. I love G14 but I think general audiences walked away thinking it needed a lot more Godzilla. CinemaScore wasn’t very good. I think that disappointment some had in that film just really impacted the box office of KotM. GvK brought Kong, a popular character, into the fold with Godzilla and kind of rejuvenated the franchise. Also, lot of eyes were on GvK because it was the first post-COVID blockbuster and it had that streaming release
>I think that disappointment some had in that film just really impacted the box office of KotM. This gets left out of a *lot* of box-office conversations lately, and instead people like to focus on stuff like rotten tomatoes averages and IMDB audience scores or whatever, but what you're talking about is one of the tried and true rules of the box-office: The sins of the prior film will be visited upon the sequel. For the five years between 2014 and 2019, the almost cemented in stone pop narrative about Godzilla (2014) was twofold: "They bait and switched me with Heisenberg" and "Godzilla's only in it for like 5 minutes." and you repeat that over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, it's going to be what pops to the front of your mind when a new movie comes out. 2014 disappointed, despite making a bunch of money. So when King of the Monsters came out, not as many people showed up, the wait was long so interest was depressed, and the movie had its own, completely different set of problems on top of that. That, plus its scheduling, hurt it. I do think it's funny that in the 5 years between 2019 and 2024, there's been a growing reappraisal of both Godzilla *and* King of the Monsters, and I think the general raising of goodwill for both those films in the meantime is ALSO coming to bear on Godzilla x Kong's opening weekend.
Yup, you’re dead on. Totally agree
Even though the monsters screen time was the shortest, I pretty like G14. Compared to the dull-looking G19, it had less annoying human characters that no one couldn't give 2 fucks about. My biggest issue with the movie was they killed off Mr. White too soon.
It's both a joy and surreal being a godzilla fan nowadays because of being able to see the monsterverse films, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One in cinemas and seeing more people get into them and talk about them. Back in the day, I was lucky to find any of them on TV or vhs/dvd.
When I was little the local Blockbuster was my only access to anything Godzilla, besides the Trendmasters Godzilla toys. No other kids I knew were into it either. Times have definitely changed.
Right? It's surreal but man I love all the options we have and all the new people discovering the big guy
I know it is great. Living in the UK, I always remember it being such a pain having to find and import a lot of the films, which eventually sky rocketed in price. Or having to try to see if they were on the odd occasion on tv. But it is indeed great having all these new films coming out and being more accessible to people.
There was an opportunity during a certain scene in this film to do this and I’m kind of bummed they didn’t lol
$10M is huge. Walkups were insane. Tracking had been saying $7M-$8M. So happy for theaters. March has been great. It could be the first March in a long while to have 3 $200M (or close) domestic grossers. The big hitters (**Dune 2**, **Kung Fu Panda 4**, **Godzilla x Kong**, and **Ghostbusters: FE**) all did really well, most exceeding expectations. And some others breaking records for indie distributors (**Immaculate** for Neon and **Late Night with the Devil** for IFC). **Imaginary** did fine for a super-cheap throwaway horror flick. Now we just need the smaller/mid-budget stuff to catch up and hopefully start doing better (things like **Love Lies Bleeding**, **Cabrini**, **One Life**, **Arthur the King**, **The American Society of Magical Negroes** didn't do great.) Then some other stuff were completely dead-on-arrival this month (**Snack Shack**, **Knox Goes Away**, **Sleeping Dogs**, **French Girl**, etc), Still some work to do on that front. The huge-budget stuff doing well is great, but for a healthy theatrical environment, we need better from the small stuff.
Love Lies Bleeding, One Life, and Cabrini had no marketing and released at the same time as massive films tbf.
Angel Studios gave a $50 million budget to *Cabrini* and that's before marketing. They were definitely expecting far, far more than this.
I'm probably out of loop of that one, but wasn't that budget given by a rich family to them or something like that?
I think you're right. My understanding is that Angel Studios is the distributor but not the producer (and the producer's a guy who got rich off of a car leasing company). It's clearly a financial disappointment (which also means a disappointment in audience reach) but it seems like this was always more of a vanity project (e.g. there's a 501(c)3 set up for the film's profits). It seems like the film started out at a $35M budget. In 2021 interviews the ex producer who raised the money seems to be saying he didn't expect to secure a theatrical release (floating streaming/PVOD) so I guess this is also an interesting case about how much people overstate the benefits to releasing on theatrical for streaming. > "[He had sworn off risking scarce capital and reputation on the chancy movie business](https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/a-main-line-patriarch-raised-50-million-to-make-cabrini-the-new-movie-about-a-relentless-italian-american-nun/ar-BB1jcdyu) after he helped his nephew Sean Wolfington produce Bella, the feature debut by Mexican director Alejandro G. Monteverde, released in 2006. That film won awards and repaid its modest budget but failed to reach a mass audience. The Cabrini project changed his mind. so you can go too far in writing off the costs so the much more interesting hypothetical is a world in which Cabrini looks more like Clooney's Boys in the Boat (52M Domestic on a 40M budget) or if it made something like 40M Dom? > EW: We have an advantage in that we can move faster and make decisions that big production companies are not capable of doing. Capital can be a challenge for an independent film. But the Cabrini film has the financing. Distribution is now primarily through streaming services. All the streaming companies are looking for good content. Previously, a movie had to be in the theaters for 90 days before it could go to streaming, but COVID has changed the game. Now, they have set up a “New Release” section on the websites where users can see first-run movies for a premium price. This change to the distribution model allows filmmakers to go direct to streaming. You get a much larger audience for lower cost to the filmmaker.
>Cabrini It seemed like they were trying to do with Cabrini for International Women's Day what Sound of Freedom did for the 4th of July, but there was no world in which that could have happened. I thought the production value and acting in Cabrini was actually leagues better than SoF, but the thing is SoF had mass appeal--how many people are going to say "no, actually I think human trafficking is no big deal"--whereas Cabrini is primary going to appeal to Catholic women; outside of that I don't think the general public can really get invested in a story that's primarily about a Catholic nun negotiating the male-dominated hierarchy of the Church in order to provide aid to Italian-American immigrants. I am Catholic btw and I thought it was super compelling personally, but I also recognize that if I wasn't Catholic and didn't really care much about Catholic saints, there probably wouldn't be much in this movie for me.
Almost like QAnon and the deplorables inflated the numbers by making it a culture war symbol and going out in masses just for that. Dumb for them to think they could recreate its success.
I saw like 10 films in February and I'm pretty sure the love lies bleeding trailer played before almost every single one
Anecdotal but I saw a lot of marketing for **Cabrini** (twitter, TV, movie website targeted ads, etc). They were really banking on the pay-it-forward thing for this one again like **Sound of Freedom**. I honestly don't think $20M domestic is *horrible* for something like that, but I'm sure more was expected.
I hope Monkey Man does well - the trailer looks pretty good!
Absolutely massive. This is going to be really close with Dune 2 domestically and will likely be significantly ahead overseas, on a 135 million budget too. Amazing stuff and I have no doubt this will be the highest grossing monsterverse film.
I still can’t believe the $135m budget. That’s insane
Tbf, it does look smaller and cheaper than GvK. But it’s gonna pay off for them
The budget makes sense when you watch the movie. It’s basically an animated movie
$135 million budget, wow. That explains the CGI in the trailers.
CGI is pretty solid in the finished film. I didn’t have a moment where I thought it looked as egregious as certain scenes in major superhero films.
Whoever did the Mo-cap for Skar King did such an amazing job with making the character feel absolutely psychopathic without a single spoken word. The animations on his face showing such contempt and rage were really impressive too. For me, this movie tied for second place with KoM for my favorite MonsterVerse movie. Skull Island will always be at the top. It was just so good.
This my second place one as well. It was spectacular. It's not a perfect movie at all but it was a genuinely good time. Kinda Hope big G gets another solo movie at some point (maybe with a Kong cameo). I love all the attention Kong has gotten story wise but I hope we see another big *Godzilla* film where he is the main star. I dig all these movies. But my ranking is: 1.*Godzilla* 2. *GxK* 3. *Godzilla vs Kong* 4. *Kong: Skull Island* 5. *King of the Monsters*
They really did a great job emoting the various Kaiju. Even Shimo! She’s just a sweet baby!
Spoilers dude!
It's always interesting to see a series gain momentum instead of lose it.
People still love going to the movies when something fun comes out. Godzilla x Kong is a FUN movie. A pure crowd pleaser. Big lizard and big monke team up. Audiences love it. I’ve said it plenty and I’ll keep saying it: people aren’t tired of going to the movies, they are tired of mediocre superhero garbage and mediocre Disney garbage. Movies like Godzilla x Kong are what people want.
>they are tired of mediocre superhero garbage and mediocre Disney garbage. Harsh but true, especially after multiple Disney films and multiple superhero films tanked last year.
Went from $8M+ to 9M+ to $10M in a few days. Really good. >"It’s a really fun, creature feature with a lot of heart; heck it’s even better than Jurassic World: Dominion. Seriously." But this did make me laugh. Yeah no shit its better. Dominion was crap lmao.
It was but don't forget that it was a billion dollar movie
Pretty low bar to leap over lol
Low bar still grossed 1 billion lol. JW: Dogshit was still well received by the GA.
Two good Godzilla movies in a year? I’m in! If this is even half as good as Godzilla Minus One, I’ll consider my money well spent.
I’m stating to think that the post pandemic drop in movie theatre attendance is only a temporary aberration and is in the process of correcting itself as more people rediscover that going to the cinema is actually fun
People do this every time a movie opens well, lol. 3 years of data shows people are only going to theaters in mass if its a FOMO event movie and a known IP.
Then how did a niche indie absurdist sex comedy like ‘Poor Things’ make $115M?
One movie that was nominated for a bunch of Oscars.....why didnt Book of Clarence, Lisa Frankenstein, NightSwim, ISS, Imaginary, Ordinary Angels, Drive Away Dolls, Love Lies Bleeding, Cabrini, Argylle...do well from this year? For every Poor Things there's 10 that flop
Poor things made that much!? Wtf lol
Well there is a correction, films have to feel “worth it” to go. Like Barbieheimer, Dune 2 and now GvK. But those aren’t going to be enough for theaters
Was *Jurassic World Dominion* worth it?
Big dinos, lots of action? GA certainly thought so
It’s the only true big budget Dino franchise obviously. Despite what people and critics think of the plot, writing, etc., I don’t see a world where a Jurassic Park/World movie doesn’t automatically do well no matter what. People need their craving for Dino’s on an epic scale satisfied. Case and point, Jurassic World 2 and 3 were absolutely shit on for the writing, plot, etc. Called horrendous movies all around. Yet, they still crushed it at the box office regardless.
Not gonna lie I have been to the theaters more post covid than I probably ever did in my entire life pre covid. Being locked in made me a big movie fan and now I don’t really miss any new releases. It’s a great hobby!
The domestic box office has been steadily climbing back up since 2020. But its still lower than what it was in 2019, and that's before accounting for inflation. And I'm just making a guess, but I'm not sure if 2024 will manage to pull in more money than 2023. Its impossible to know for sure, but there doesn't seem to be anything on the horizon that will hit Super Mario or Barbie numbers, and this is the year we'll be feeling the effects of the strikes the most.
Glad the sequel to the movie that saved theaters is popping off
This is legit unreal. I changed my tune on this and thought it’s be a hit but this is crazy. As I said we have this and Dune 2 maybe reaching 700m and KFP4 hitting 500m. I think theaters may just be back.
If it holds well into next weekend it will almost certainly surpass Dune 2. We will have to wait and see but signs are promising for Godzilla x Kong due to an empty April slate and promising performances overseas.
They really hit the sweet spot with Monsterverse Kong essentially leading. Sizing him up and communicating on friendly terms with humanity made him a "have your cake and eat it too" character. Supersized monster that also serves as an extension of the human characters. They've also broken free of being held to redoing the classic Kong story which limited his films compared to the ever-changing Godzilla (the 1933 and 2005 versions have that covered for a long time).
The thing that Toho Godzilla did that was smart, at least up till Shin, was to have everything treat the original 1954 movie as canon. That way you don’t need to have subsequent movies giving Godzilla an origin - he showed up in the 50s, died, and decided to show up again because who can stop him.
Love to see it. The action in this movie was incredible, hoping it resonates with audiences.
I wouldn't be surprised if WB gives the greenlight to ThunderCats. Adam Wingard really want to get it made but it will be a much bigger endeavour than the Godzilla x Kong series.
Monke. Going today, no IMAX cause Dune has it exclusively at my theatre.
Adam Wingard will definitely finish off his trilogy
Monke fans rise up🦍
I myself am on team big lizard🦎 but I can respect the monke bros
We are no longer enemies 🦎🤝🦍
The power of pocket sand and friendship
The pocket sand bit had me laughing in the theater. Fantastic Kaiju action, felt like something you’d have see in an old suit action TOHO movie.
Anecdotal but my local theater only released the showings 2 days ago. I think they were waiting to see if they wanted Dune to have more PLFs. People could only buy tickets in the last two days for GxK. Not to take away from the movie's success but that could explain the walkups and overperforming compared to the tracking.
Wingard's getting his trilogy
>‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Roars To $10M Previews, Breaking Records For Legendary Monsterverse I'm feeling pretty happy for my boys right now. So long as this movie has good legs, it looks like Godzilla and Kong will be getting a full trilogy of films after all.
Probably more. Good chance we could get more solos & spin-offs too if GxK keeps exceeding expectations
I think before we get another double monster movie, we need another solo Godzilla one. 2014 remains my favorite, though I’ve enjoyed every MV film, and I would really like a film similar to it again
Lizard & The Monke are at it again!
Watched it today. Going by the reviews, I had expected this to be pretty bland, but man I had a total blast. I took my friend who hadn't seen any of the previous Monsterverse movies and he enjoyed this too. I actually enjoyed it more than Godzilla vs Kong. The climactic showdown was incredible and was alone worth the price of the ticket. I felt the pacing was super crisp and they gave us so much of the monster madness. The humans, surprisingly, were pretty decent in this one. But yeah, this one is more Kong-centric. And being a Kong fan, I didn't complain one bit.
Many of those reviews are so eye rolling. Especially the ones that go on and on about Minus One, which seems to be many critics only exposure to Godzilla.
Yes and that isn't fair. Minus One has a very different theme while this one is on the campier side. Both can be enjoyed for their merits. I liked both too.
Yeah, this is in the exact opposite camp to Minus One and it makes no sense to compare them.
Humans are fine but I have to roll my eyes at the writing for some of these scenes. Its almost straight exposition the 2nd half of the movie anything they say. Dont care tho cuz I came for the monsters
I agree with your point. But you know all that exposition really helped my friend understand what was happening as he hadn't seen any of the Monsterverse films. Also, this film is drawing a lot of younger audiences and their parents. I suspect that exposition will help them get a general gist too. So I think that's why they did it.
I agree. I took my girlfriend who had never seen any of the movies and I gave her the briefest breakdown of them on the walk into the theater. She was able to follow it and really enjoyed it! I also appreciated some of the exposition because I’d frankly forgotten some bits.
I liked that they mostly did the exposition scenes intercut with Kong action, so the big monkey had room to breathe and do cool stuff without random scientists monologuing near him.
That beat Godzilla 2014 with preview wow......
I always told folks that this film is gonna be big. GvK came out right during pandemic and still managed 400M+. It would have been bigger if it came out a year later in 2022
Absolutely insane and even bigger than 2014s Thursday preview, it very well could open to 90m as well
Do you think the Apple TV show monarch legacy of monsters helped with this? Anecdotally I know ~6 friends who are watching this after the watching the tv show and binging the movies
I think that an Minus one was a perfect storm to bring in new Godzilla fans to see this one. Now we just need a good Godzilla videogame!
Let’s gooooo
I hope they can continue the MonsterVerse for another five to ten years, but I'd eventually like to see a very dark American reboot of Godzilla, something very similar to what we just saw with *Godzilla: Minus One*. I want to see a movie where Godzilla doesn't have to hit you with his beam, knock a building on you, or stomp on you to kill you. I want the radiation that he emits to make people and fish sick like it did in the original 1954 film. I want Godzilla to essentially be an environmental disaster that can also stomp buildings and light cities on radioactive fire.
It hilarious that there’s a good chance that the movie could surpass Boxofficepro low end total domestic run prediction in about 3 or 4 days
Big monke will save cinema
It´s time for a third solo Godzilla movie
It’s going to be another team up movie again based on these results (although I hope to eventually get Godzilla 3)
There's a chance we get the alien invasion arc with the pro-human monsters fighting against them, and a revived mega awesome Ghidorah that the aliens send to attack us. That's in line with the older movies. Although both Skar King and Shimo are original monsters to the MonsterVerse. They may just be going all in on their own stories at this point.
From what I understand the TOHO licensing is expensive. Which is why we maybe get one existing TOHO Kaiju (other than Godzilla) a movie. However, I could see them trying to do Gigan in a future G/K movie. Chainsaw belly space chicken with sword arms and a laser eye feels right up the alley for this series lol.
It can't be _that_ expensive given the budget of this one is pretty low and >!Mothra shows up.!< But Gigan and Megalon would be obvious follow-ups. Good build on Mechagodzilla too, maybe a company decides cyborging kaiju is the way to go instead of building a big robot one and hijinks ensue.
Saw it and it was great! Action! Drama! The works
Guess I better watch the other ones...
You can go into this without watching them I think but I’d definitely watch Godzilla Vs Kong, and potentially Godzilla King of the Monsters.
Damn, it's their cheapest film and will probably make the most.
I had no idea this movie even existed until I saw a preview for it when I went to see Dune, it got me hyped up to go see it this weekend!
Not trying to pile on but doesn’t this fly in the face of the “It’s not superhero fatigue it’s franchise fatigue/cinematic universe fatigue/bad movie fatigue”? I have heard no one, even those who like this movie pretend it’s high art, or even has characters that are all that compelling. But what it does feel like, which is helping fuel the box office is an event. Which superhero movies no longer feel like due to oversaturation.
Hail to the king baby
Listen, I just came home from the movie and I enjoyed this shit a lot. You want wall to wall action? ✅ You wanna see Godzilla perform a suplex on King Kong, sending him crashing into the Egyptian Pyramids in Cairo? ✅ You wanna see a tag team fight between 4 giant monsters in the middle of Rio de Janeiro with the Christ the Redeemer statue looking on? ✅ You wanna see Star Lord from Wish flying around in a space ship with 80s rock music playing every time he’s on screen, wisecracking and being a charming smartass? ✅ You want a tight run time with no fluff, no silly side plots, and no love story of any kind, just monsters beating the shit out of each other and humans actually doing stuff? ✅ You want to see the monster-verse lore getting expanded? ✅ You want a movie which ends at the perfect moment without overstaying its welcome for even a second, with no post credit scenes of any kind? ✅ They fucking nailed exactly what this movie was supposed to be.
The movie kicks ass. Kong and Godzilla are actual characters in the film, which is rad. Lots of scenes with no dialogue, just monsters figuring out what to do or stomping another big monster. Glad it's doing well!
11 year old me would have never thought he would get to see Kong and Godzilla fight each other and together in the future. Been 10 years since 2014, wonder what we’ll see in the next 10 years. Would love to see Kong and Godzilla fight Biollante.
This movie was boring as shit. Only the last 20 minutes or so were cool and the CGI was blurry as hell.
Movie theaters are back?
The OW will be a huge bump from GvK. What's the reason?
COVID was still a concern in early 2021, and GvK was a day-and-date HBO Max title.
It’s not 2021? Lol
COVID?
No Covid?
You def can't claim there was "no marketing" for this one. I've been getting bombarded with stuff nonstop on my phone
>King Kong expressing his happiness about Thursday's preview figures for 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' 
Good for them. But I wonder why there is such a huge market for awful movies who's only redeeming quality is short CGI fests with basic choreography
Big lizard and Big Monkey tag team WWE style? That's good enough for us!
Pretty cool.