Box office: 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Demon Slayer' top expectations - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Demon Slayer’ open above expectations at the box office

Share via

Does this weekend’s strong box office mean moviegoing is returning to some approximation of normal? With about 57% of theaters in the U.S. and Canada reopened for business (albeit at limited capacity), Warner Bros.’ “Mortal Kombat” opened to a surprisingly strong $22.5 million across 3,073 locations, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

It is the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated movie since the coronavirus shutdown closed theaters more than a year ago and the second-largest pandemic-era opening weekend overall, following the studio’s success with “Godzilla vs. Kong” this month.

Based on characters from the popular video game, “Mortal Kombat” is a reboot of the ’90s film series and was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.

Advertisement

Internationally, the film earned $27.6 million, for a global cumulative total of $50.1 million. The film’s reception was mixed, with a B-plus audience grade from CinemaScore and a 55% “rotten” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

In second place, Funimation’s anime blockbuster “Demon Slayer — Kimetsu no Yaiba — the Movie: Mugen Train” premiered to $19.5 million on 1,600 screens. A sequel to the anime television series, the film earned a rare 100% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now in its fourth weekend, “Godzilla vs. Kong” added $4.2 million for a domestic cumulative total of $86.6 million and a global cumulative total of $406.6 million.

Advertisement