Godzilla: King of the Monsters Rules Box Office With $179 Million Opening Weekend, Fails to Beat Original

Godzilla: King of the Monsters romped to a $179 million (about Rs. 1,243 crores) opening this past weekend, which was enough to (easily) crown it as the king of the worldwide box office, but it failed to improve on its 2014 predecessor, Godzilla, which had brought in $196.6 million (about Rs. 1,365 crores) in the first three days. The Godzilla sequel did improve on the franchise's previous entry, Kong: Skull Island, whose global opening weekend gross was $146.1 million (about Rs. 1,014 crores). That said, Kong: Skull Island managed to outdo 2014's Godzilla over the long run, racking up $566.7 million (about Rs. 3,935 crores) versus $529.1 million (about Rs. 3,674 crores), so it'll be interesting to see where King of the Monsters falls ultimately.

In yet another sign of American studios relying more on non-American audiences for their blockbuster movies, Godzilla: King of the Monsters brought in a franchise-low $49 million (about Rs. 340 crores) in the US, with the rest $130 million (about Rs. 902.7 crores) coming from 75 international markets. Naturally, China ($70 million) led the way for the Godzilla sequel, followed by the likes of Japan ($8.4 million), Mexico ($4.6 million), the UK ($4.4 million), Taiwan ($4.1 million), Indonesia ($3.5 million), France ($2.6 million), Russia ($2.5 million), India ($2.5 million), Thailand ($2.3 million), South Korea ($2.2 million), and Malaysia ($2.2 million).

King of the Monsters opened Wednesday/ Thursday in a few countries. Spain is the last major market for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, where it doesn't open for a few more weeks: June 21.

All three films — the two Godzilla ones and Kong: Skull Island — are part of the MonsterVerse, Legendary Pictures' shared film universe that continues next year with Godzilla vs. Kong. The newest one, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, has the lowest critical appeal, with a score of 39 percent at reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, versus 75 percent for both 2014's Godzilla and 2017's Kong: Skull Island.

The other big earner at the worldwide box office this weekend was Disney's live-action remake of Aladdin, starring Will Smith as the Genie, which added another $120.6 million (about Rs. 837.5 crores) to take its global total close to $446 million (about Rs. 3,097 crores).

And for those interested in Avengers: Endgame's creep towards Avatar's all-time record, the Marvel film is now at $2.713 billion (about Rs. 18,843 crores), about $75 million (about Rs. 520.8 crores) off. Of course, these numbers don't account for inflation.