Global Box Office Report: Godzilla vs. Kong Roars to $21.5M Opening Day in China, Nobody Estimated at $2.4M Friday in North America

Photo Credits: Warner Bros. ("Godzilla vs. Kong"); Allen Fraser / Universal Pictures ("Nobody")

The two biggest box office markets in the world are generating early Friday estimates from multiple Hollywood studios for the first time in quite awhile as Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong hits China this weekend and Universal’s Nobody rolls out domestically.

The monster-on-monster extravaganza is off to a very big start in the Middle Kingdom with a $21.5 million (RMB 140 million) opening day estimated by Warner Bros. this afternoon. Marketed and distributed by Legendary, the sequel recorded the biggest opening day of any imported title in China for all of 2020 and 2021. The previous claim belonged to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet with RMB 57 million, or roughly $8.7 million on opening day last year.

Godzilla vs. Kong also scored the highest pre-sales for opening day among all imported titles since the pandemic began, drawing RMB 45 million (just shy of $7 million) to top Tenet‘s RMB 22.5 million (over $3.4 million).

The biggest tentpole release since the studio’s Wonder Woman 1984 back in December, Godzilla vs. Kong is also opening in most other overseas markets this weekend, although Warner Bros. is not expected to report full global results until later in the weekend.

The film launches domestically next Wednesday, March 31 in theaters and day-and-date on HBO Max for subscribers. Pre-release tracking is very strong for the film by pandemic standards.

Nobody Pacing to Top Domestic Box Office

Meanwhile, Universal continues to make good on exclusive theatrical releases during the slow-to-develop theatrical rebound with Nobody hitting cinemas this weekend. As of early Friday afternoon Pacific time, the studio reported a projection of $2.4 million on opening day and a potential $6.5 million opening weekend.

Universal notes that these figures are speculative and they’ll provide further updates should they change drastically.

If the numbers hold, Nobody‘s opening would fall in line close to expectations and our weekend forecast while topping the starts of other recent action-thrillers released in North America during the pandemic.

Photo Credits: Warner Bros. ("Godzilla vs. Kong"); Allen Fraser / Universal Pictures ("Nobody")