Godzilla X Kong And Kung Fu Panda 4 Just Passed A Major Box Office Milestone

The past two weekends at the box office have been, in a word, miserable. Yes, "Challengers" won this most recent frame with a $15 million opening, but the total take for the weekend domestically was just over $60 million. Last weekend, when "Abigail" and Guy Ritchie's "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" underperformed, the weekend total was barely above $65 million. When total ticket sales for a weekend are less than what would be a so-so opening weekend for a summer blockbuster, things are dire. Fortunately, there are a couple of bright spots among the darkness.

On its fifth weekend in theaters, "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" pulled in $7.2 million domestically, dropping just 25% from weekend four. It held the number three spot on the charts behind this weekend's newcomers, "Challengers" and "Unsung Hero" ($7.75 million). That was also enough to bring it past the $500 million mark globally. Director Adam Wingard's monster flick has amassed $181.7 million domestically to go with $339.6 million internationally for a running total of $521.3 million. It is the second-biggest movie of 2024 globally, behind only "Dune: Part Two" ($704 million). (Meanwhile, that movie passed the $700 million mark as part of a very, very good weekend for Zendaya.)

On a similarly positive note, Universal and DreamWorks' "Kung Fu Panda 4" chugged right along in its eighth weekend of release. The animated sequel added another $3.6 million to its domestic total, which was enough to put it past the $500 million mark as well. The fourth animated adventure with Jack Black's Po has now made $185 million domestically to go with $318.6 million overseas for a grand total of $503.7 million to date. It is the third biggest movie of the year globally, right behind "GxK."

Circling back to "Godzilla x Kong," Warner Bros. and Legendary continue to have great success with the MonsterVerse franchise. It started back in 2014 with director Gareth Edwards' "Godzilla" and has been playing the slow-and-steady game ever since. Across five movies (and one TV series in the form of Apple TV+'s "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters"), the films have collectively grossed $2.44 billion globally. All the while, many other cinematic universes have come and gone. But this one remains as strong as ever; one could argue that it's stronger than ever, in some ways.

"The New Empire" had already passed 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong" ($467 million) at the box office. Now, it's assured to pass 2014's "Godzilla" ($529 million worldwide) to become the second-biggest entry in the franchise to date, behind only 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" ($561 million worldwide). Whether or not it can top that film remains to be seen, but it is well ahead of "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" ($383 million worldwide), which remains the only true flop of the bunch so far.

The other thing to consider is that "GxK" had a shockingly reasonable $135 million budget. For comparison, "Skull Island" cost a reported $185 million to make. So, even if Wingard's latest doesn't end up passing that movie worldwide, it stands to actually turn more profit in the end for WB and Legendary. That all but ensures we're going to get another Godzilla and Kong team-up picture. It's more of a matter of when, not if.

Meanwhile, "Kung Fu Panda 4" is keeping Universal's hot streak when it comes to family-friendly animated movies alive. Last year, they were behind "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which made more than $1.3 billion. It was second globally only to the monster that was "Barbie." What we're seeing is that these movies truly have the ability to leg out in the pandemic era, as mass-appeal family films are slightly harder to come by. Where Disney has failed to spark interest with movies like "Strange World" and "Wish," Universal has delivered the goods.

What's truly amazing is that director Mike Mitchell's latest entry in the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise has defied logical expectations in many ways. 2016's "Kung Fu Panda 3" made $506 million globally under far better circumstances, so far as the global theatrical marketplace was concerned. That film also made nearly $140 million of its money in China. "Kung Fu Panda 4," on the other hand, is going to make more money worldwide with less than $50 million in China. That's impressive to see.

Even better, Universal has managed to get DreamWorks and Illumination's animated films made on the cheap, relatively speaking. Case in point: "Kung Fu Panda 4" was made for just $85 million, whereas "Kung Fu Panda 3" cost $140 million to make. So this was a more financially enriching result all around. A bright spot in the darkness, indeed.

"Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" and "Kung Fu Panda 4" are in theaters now.