Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema’s Mortal Kombat took a brutally large tumble last night. The R-rated video game adaptation grossed $1.85 million (-79%) on its second Friday, which is a Friday-to-Friday drop on par (-81%) with Batman v Superman five years ago. We’re likely looking at a $5.9 million (-74%) second-weekend gross and a $33.5 million ten-day cume. That’s a second-weekend plunge closer to Warcraft (-70% from a $24 million debut in 2016) than Tomb Raider (-59% after a $23.6 million debut in 2018). As such, barring a revival next weekend (or the mere fact that it stays in theaters for a while), we’re probably looking at a cume closer to Resident Evil: Retribution ($42 million in 2012) than Resident Evil: Afterlife ($60 million in 2012).
It’s probably a situation akin to Wonder Woman 1984. Simply put, it’s a fan-driven property that didn’t get exceptionally-great buzz or overly superlative reviews. The folks who wanted to check it out in theaters did so on opening weekend, with the rest either outright passing or sampling the gory goods on HBO Max. Does that mean the HBO Max hindered the film’s domestic box office trajectory? Not really. Absent the streaming option, even a 60% drop would have given it a $9 million second-weekend gross, which (at $9.37 per ticket) is only around 378,000 “lost” ticket purchases. That’s not exact science, but what happened with Wonder Woman 1984 (-67% after a $16.4 million debut last Christmas) did not happen with Tom & Jerry or Godzilla Vs. Kong.
However, Wonder Woman 1984 legged out to $46.4 million domestic, or a “conventional” 2.83x weekend-to-final multiplier. Meanwhile, Tom & Jerry has earned $44.163 million from a $14.4 million debut, or a 3x multiplier. Even The Little Things pulled a 3.2x ($15.3 million from a $4.7 million debut), while Godzilla Vs. Kong is passing $90 million after a $31 million Fri-Sun/$50 million Wed-Mon debut. Is it possible that Mortal Kombat will stick around and still earn closer to $60 million than $45 million? Maybe, but A) that drop implies that it would have plunged hard even in conventional circumstances and B) with summer season about to begin (Wrath of Man, Spiral, Cruella, etc.), the big WB release of the moment will no longer be the only game in town.
Demon Slayer: The Movie suffered an almost identical drop in its second weekend, grossing $1.818 million on Friday. That’s -81% from its $9.5 million opening day (counting Thursday previews) and positions the film for a $5.76 million (-73%) second-weekend gross. Look, this is still a Japanese anime export, a domestic run for a deeply fan-driven R-rated action fantasy which has already grossed $29.5 million in eight days. Yes, it stood to reason that the fans who wanted to show up did so last weekend, but the weekday grosses ($6.3 million over Mon-Thurs after a $21.4 million debut) were generally better than Dragon Ball Super: Brolly from early 2019. That film nabbed a $9.8 million Fri-Sun and $22.369 million Wed-Mon MLK weekend debut before tapping out at $30.712 million.
Considering the solid weekday grosses, I expected a slightly better hold for Demon Slayer, but c’est la vie. The film will have $33.6 million domestic by tomorrow night, which is more than “fine” for a release of this nature. It’ll already be the seventh-biggest foreign-language grosser ever (sans inflation), between Amélie ($33.225 million in 2001) and Pan’s Labyrinth ($37.634 million in 2006). If it at least legs out to $44.5 million, it’ll pass Instructions Not Included ($44.467 million in 2013) to crack the top five, behind Parasite ($53.4 million in 2019), Hero ($53.71 million in 2004), Life is Beautiful ($57.2 million in 1999) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ($128 million in 2000). Nonetheless, it’s still arguably playing exactly as it would have had it opened in conventional times.
Warner Bros.’ Godzilla Vs. Kong earned another $700,000 (-40%) on its fifth Friday, leading to a likely $2.55 million (-41%) weekend and $90.15 million domestic cume. Whether it makes it to $100 million domestic is arguably about whether WB keeps it in theaters long enough for that to happen. The film will nab $185 million in China by the time it’s done, a mammoth win for the MonsterVerse and for the hope that Chinese moviegoers still give a darn about Hollywood franchises. It’s already past $400 million worldwide, with very early talks about an Adam Wingard-directed MonsterVerse continuation already in progress (my nine-year-old has pitches), so it’s already a solid hit for Warner Bros. whether it stalls out at $95 million or makes it to $100 million.
Meanwhile, Universal re-released Scott Pilgrim vs. the World into 152 Dolby Cinema theaters in America. The Edgar Wright action comedy fantasy was a cult favorite among the nerd set in summer 2010, but also a prime example of how online fandom doesn’t translate into general audience interest. The “Twilight for boys” flick (that’s not a criticism) earned $31.5 million domestic and $47.7 million worldwide on a $60 million budget, even as essentially everyone in the supporting cast (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, etc.) went on to fortune and glory elsewhere. As for its Dolby reissue, it earned $340,000 on Friday for a likely $700,000 “opening weekend” for a new $32.374 million cume. It’ll have the biggest per-theater-average, $4,605 per-theater, in the top 23.
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