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April 25, 2021
 

US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office Report – 4.25.2021

 

OPENINGS:  The theatrical box office continued to pick itself up off the floor this weekend with two high-performing R-rated action movies, which thrived despite an overlapping target audience and the availability of one on a streaming service.  MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners, also on HBO Max) emerged the victor with $22.5M for the weekend, and could be headed for $60M+ in the US, likely a profitable investment on a $55M production budget and perhaps $25M in worldwide marketing costs, low by pre-pandemic standards.  (That marketing covers the HBO Max release as well, of course, although we have no data for how it’s doing online.)  Overseas, it’s at $27.6M after a $6.3M weekend in 36 markets.

DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN (Funimation) was a bit behind for the weekend at $19.5M, but it was at a little more than half the theatres as Mortal Kombat (1600 vs. 3073), so its per-theatre average was much higher, $12K vs $7K.  Demon Slayer was actually in the lead on Friday, but it was heavily frontloaded with fans, so it fell 32% on Saturday whlie Mortal Kombat was down just 5%.  The movie’s US success comes on top of a mammoth box office take in Japan, where it’s earned $365.1M (plus $23.2M in the rest of the world).

On a much smaller scale, the indie comedy TOGETHER TOGETHER (Bleecker Street) opened at 665 theatres with a mild $520K.

HOLDOVERS:  GODZILLA VS. KONG (Warners, also on HBO Max) fell 47% to $4.2M on its 4th weekend, and it’s now a tossup whether it will reach $100M in the US.  Overseas, it’s at $320M ($183.1M of that from China) after a $5.7M weekend in 41 territories.

NOBODY (Universal, also on VOD) dropped 26% to $1.9M in its 5th weekend, on its way past $35M in the US.  It’s also brought in $16.5M overseas.

RAYA & THE LAST DRAGON (Disney, also on Disney+) dipped just 13% to $1.7M in its 8th weekend, and should go beyond $45M in the US.  It has $72.1M overseas.

THE UNHOLY (Screen Gems/Sony) lost 32% to $1.4M in its 4th weekend, on track to pass $15M in the US.  with $4.7M to date overseas.

NEXT WEEKEND:  The only scheduled wide opening is the horror movie SEPARATION (Open Road).



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."