Movies
‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ is a Pandemic Box Office Powerhouse With $285 Million Worldwide Thus Far!
Box office reporting has made its official return with the release of Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong, which is out in international theaters as well as theaters here in the U.S. Of course, the mashup fight film is also streaming on HBO Max, but that hasn’t stopped Godzilla vs. Kong from having a killer (and far better than expected) opening weekend in theaters.
Since its release in U.S. theaters last Wednesday, Godzilla vs. Kong has pulled in $48.5 million at the domestic box office across 3,064 theaters, the biggest opening of the pandemic.
Godzilla vs. Kong had been projected to make roughly $20-30 million across its five day domestic opening weekend, with those projections essentially doubled by the actual number.
Worldwide, Godzilla vs. Kong has made $285,400,000 in theaters, with the bulk of that money being made internationally. For the sake of comparison, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the previous film in WB & Legendary’s “MonsterVerse,” ended with a worldwide total of $386 million, a number Godzilla vs. Kong is already fast approaching in a matter of weeks.
Of course, it must also be noted that Godzilla vs. Kong has opened, quite unlike King of the Monsters, *during a pandemic* and with the film already available at home in the States on top of that, which makes the film’s box office dominance even more impressive. Granted, Godzilla vs. Kong is a big time event movie that was likely always going to get asses in seats no matter the situation, but it’s nevertheless the start of a “return to normalcy” that we’ve all been craving. And it’s a huge win for WB, who took a big gamble with their rollout plan. Turns out, the people wanted new movies and they wanted the option to either watch them at home or in their local theater. And the only studio bringing that combo to the table right now is WB.
Even still, Godzilla vs. Kong has a long way to go before it’s traditionally profitable, but the good news for WB is that the film is also smashing records for the HBO Max streaming service. Does this mean the “MonsterVerse” will continue, after all? Here’s hoping…
[Review] ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Delivers on Bombastic Kaiju Spectacle!
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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