ZAMM.COM

With no monster openings, GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE ruled the Hollywood jungle with $31.7M.

Between them, the weekend’s two new arrivals, MONKEY MAN & THE FIRST OMEN, pumped $18.5M in ticket sales into the multiplexes. While that’s a far cry from what grosses looked like in pre-pandemic/pre-streaming days, those soft launches still filled seats and sold popcorn and other pricey concession stand treats to keep exhibitors in the game.

Next weekend (4/12-14) looks like it will be much worse with weak holdovers and no wide studio debuts to attractmoviegoers. It’ll be weekend three for GxK, which will then be falling from just $31.7M. That’s especially bad timing as distributors and exhibitors will be meeting from 4/8-11 at their annual CinemaCon lovefest in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace to talk about how great the movies will be that are opening later this year.

Meanwhile, back at the multiplexes: WB/Legendary Entertainment’s GxK’s  $31.7M was a 60.38% weekend two plunge at 3,948 theatres ($8,029), per Comscore. GxK, which reportedly cost $135M to produce, has done $135M domestic with a global cume of $361.1M.

The weekend’s overall marketplace, per Comscore, totaled $86.1M, down 37.7% from the prior weekend and down 58% vs. this time last year. Comscore’s year to date tally has 2024 at $1.785B, down 10% from $1.994B in 2023.

Universal/BRON Studios/Monkeypaw Productions’ R rated action thriller MONKEY MAN, from director & star Dev Patel, opened second to $10.1M at 3,029 theatres ($3,334). Going into this weekend, MONKEY was tracking below norm with all demos. Rotten Tomatoes critics are happy at 87% and audiences are nearly as happy at 83%.

“The film began its rollout in 27 markets this weekend including UK & Ireland, Australia, Germany, Italy, and The Netherlands and collectively, these openings reached $2.6M,” Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian reported. “‘Monkey Man’ will roll out over the next few weeks in most of the world.”

Hollywood handicappers were expecting $12M+ domestic, but Universal is still in good shape with $10.1M since it reportedly picked up MM for under $10M and then moved forward with encouragement and help from Jordan Peele at Monkeypaw.

Originally, MM was to have been a straight-to-streaming $30M production for Netflix, which exited the deal quite late after apparently having second thoughts about MM’s strong violence. Universal has now made it work well enough theatrically to be able to make it a franchise. Plus, the studio now has a solid relationship with Patel to work with him in the future as a director and/or actor on other projects.

Sony/BRON Studios’ GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE was #3 in weekend three with $9M (-42.23%) at 3,835 theatres ($2,347). EMPIRE, which reportedly cost $100M to produce, has done $88.9M domestic with a global cume of $138.2M.

Disney/20th Century Studios’ R rated horror thriller THE FIRST OMEN opened fourth to $8.4M at 3,375 theatres ($2,478). Media pundits were projecting  $10M or more. Going into this weekend, OMEN was tracking best with women under 25 (one point over norm). Rotten Tomatoes critics are a blah 78% while audiences hate it at 65%.