'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' stumbles with $49 million debut

The latest iteration of the Godzilla franchise took over the top spot from "Aladdin" and roared louder than Elton John at the weekend box office, but it still left a notably smaller footprint on North American theaters than its city-wrecking predecessors.

In this file photo taken on May 18, 2019 English actress Millie Bobby Brown arrives to attend the world premiere of "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Warner Bros.' "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" stomped to the top of the box-office in its opening weekend in North American theaters, taking in an estimated $49 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported. But analysts called the creature feature's debut disappointing. Its total for the three-day weekend came in far behind the studio's previous "Godzilla" installment (which opened in 2014 with $93 million), and the new film cost $200 million to make. [File photo: AFP]

"Godzilla: King of the Monsters," Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment's sequel to 2014's "Godzilla," was brought down to size by poor reviews and middling interest from moviegoers, selling $49 million in tickets, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Although Godzilla: King of the Monsters (review) topped the box office this weekend, it’s a shining example of how rank isn’t the sole variable for determining victory. The Michael Dougherty-directed sequel to Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla opened with a frankly disappointing $49 million weekend.

That is an okay 2.5x weekend multiplier along with an okay B+ Cinemascore, as forbes.com reports.

Yes, that’s pretty close to the 2.44x multiplier of Godzilla, but that one opened with $93 million from a $38 million opening day. It also was incredibly frontloaded, ending with $200 million domestic. If Godzilla 2 legs like the previous Godzilla, it’ll end up with $105 million domestic. Yes, it looks like the curse of the LEGO Movie 2 may have struck again.

The LEGO Movie opened with $69 million in early 2014 before legging it to $259 million domestic. Five years later, despite positive reviews and at least some fondness for the original, The LEGO Movie 2 opened with just $34 million before ending with $105.8 million domestic and $191 million worldwide on a $100 million budget. Whatever the reason (disinterest in the specific human protagonists, too many spin-off movies, curiosity being mistaken for long-term interest), The LEGO Movie 2 was a shocking whiff.

The reviews were mixed-negative as well, as opposed to the mostly well-received predecessor. Audiences weren’t super thrilled with the last one, with some complaining of too much of a slow burn build-up, pencil-thin character work and a title character that was mostly kept off-screen or obtusely revealed up until the climax. Whether that’s in tune with the franchise, the last flick earned $200 million domestic from a $93 million opening (a terrible 2.15x multiplier).

Maybe the previous Godzilla really was received with indifference by the general audience. Maybe it just didn’t really branch out after a best-case-scenario opening. Either way, after the last Godzilla’s mixed reception and existing in a packed summer movie season, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was always going to be less of an event, at least in North America, compared to the last one.

That said, even legs like Kong: Skull Island ($168 million from a $61 million debut) gets this one to just $135 million domestic. And while it snagged around $70 million in China, it’s going to get hit hard by X-Men: Dark Phoenix next weekend. The odds are not in its favor for Legendary’s $170 million-budgeted monster sequel, even with a $179 million global launch. Warner Bros. put up 25% of that budget, so this is more of a moral defeat.

After the “merely pretty good” performances of Shazam! ($366 million on a $90 million budget) and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (probably over/under $430 million on a $150 million budget), Godzilla: King of the Monsters is yet another case (alongside The LEGO Movie 2) of them arguably doing the right thing (three out of four of those got majority positive reviews) with less-than-intended results. This was always going to be Disney’s year. But WB had a strong line up at least on paper.

Intriguingly enough, save for the first two Jurassic Park movies and the last two Jurassic World movies, no “giant monster movie” has ever crossed $567 million worldwide. Although to be fair, Peter Jackson’s King Kong earned $550 million in 2005 sans any kind of 3-D or IMAX boost. Presuming at least $112 million in China (it earned $12 million in 2005/2006), it would be around $870 million adjusted for inflation. At this early juncture, Godzilla: King of the Monsters may be hoping to earn half of that.

(Story includes material sourced from forbes and AP.)