But Warner Bros., which distributed “Godzilla vs. Kong,” was too busy popping champagne on Sunday to dwell on buzz-killing caveats. “BIG MOVIES ARE BACK WITH OUR KAIJU-SIZED OPENING!” the studio said in a news release about weekend grosses, using the Japanese term for overgrown movie monsters.
The mash-up of computer-generated titans, directed by Adam Wingard and costing about $155 million to make, benefited from strong reviews. A.O. Scott, assessing it for The New York Times, described it as an escapist romp made with “lavish grandiosity” and “zero pretension.” Ticket buyers gave the movie an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls, higher than “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” in 2019 or “Kong: Skull Island” in 2017.
As Hollywood adapts to the streaming age by making new movies more promptly available for home viewing — to the consternation of theater owners — quality matters more than ever, along with size and scope: What is worth a trip to theaters (with face coverings for the foreseeable future) and what is not?
Non-franchise films without spectacular visual effects may have a hard time, box office analysts say, pointing to the disappointing arrival of “Raya and the Last Dragon” last month. Godzilla and King Kong, on the other hand, are cinematic comfort food: time-tested, larger-than-life nonsensical fun. A large percentage of weekend ticket sales for “Godzilla vs. Kong” came from large-format theaters that charge a premium for tickets. Imax, for instance, said that about 1,000 of its screenings in North America were sellouts.
“Audiences are demonstrating that pent-up demand to experience blockbuster moviemaking on the grandest scale,” David King, an Imax distribution executive, said in an email.
That was certainly true of Iveth Vacao, who brought her 8-year-old son, Jayden, to an Imax matinee of “Godzilla vs. Kong” at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/04/movies/godzilla-vs-kong-box-office.html
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