'Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire' smashes its way to RM500mil at international box office

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Godzilla, left, and Kong in a scene from "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire smashed its box-office competition this weekend, soaring past expectations with estimated domestic ticket sales of US$80mil (RM377.9mil) and delivering the second-best opening of the year, just behind another Warner Bros and Legendary film, Dune: Part Two.

Premium formats such as Imax and Dolby Cinema made up 48% of the film's business. The movie also made US$114mil (RM538.5mil) in international markets, bringing its global weekend haul to US$194mil (RM916.5mil), according to Warner Bros.

The film ranked an A-minus on CinemaScore, indicating what audiences saw met their expectations.

Directed by Adam Wingard from a screenplay credited to Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater, the film did not do as well with critics such as The LA Times' Katie Walsh, who noted, "There's a harried energy to Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, which is enjoyable until it becomes tiresome and deafening."

The film brings back actors Rebecca Hall, Kaylee Hottle and Brian Tyree Henry from the Wingard-directed 2021 Godzilla Vs. Kong, this time adding Dan Stevens and Alex Ferns to the cast. The franchise's two title stars are brought together by circumstances to team up to battle all manner of other creatures.

The film is the fifth in the revamped MonsterVerse franchise, and the box-office returns mark the second-best opening weekend for the series, behind only the US$93mil for Godzilla in 2014.

In an interview with The LA Times' Tracy Brown, Wingard said it was an easy decision to make another film featuring the famous creatures.

"There's nothing as a filmmaker that can prepare you for doing a movie with characters of 6-foot scale and 300-foot scale working together and all the insane mechanics that go along with making a kaiju movie," Wingard said. "I knew that I wasn't done with the series because I knew there were untapped reservoirs of potential in terms of what could be done with monsters." – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service