Box Office Breakdown for Weekend of 4/28/24

Movies

What’s up, Geeks + Gamers? It’s ODIN!

Challengers Wins as Godzilla x Kong Finally Makes a Profit

The era of mediocrity at the box office we’ve been in for many years has only seen a handful of releases showcasing that the glory days of the pre-pandemic times will soon be over. That didn’t stop this weekend when the new Zendaya flick Challengers was released. Though Challengers won the weekend with $15 million, it has likely received more attention from months ago when an early image of Zendaya from the film showing her getting kissed in a very insinuating matter by two different guys simultaneously was leaked. The fact that this is all that I and many others seem to know about the movie speaks a lot about how Challengers lacked any genuine excitement or anticipation. With a projected $55 million budget, this means it needs to make $140 million or more just to break even, which, with very mixed reviews from general audiences, seems like it won’t be happening any time soon (and likely won’t happen ever). At least the upcoming film The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling seems to be generating enough excitement to boost the domestic box office next weekend, though the early projections and tracking for the film still leave much to be desired.

Aside from the lackluster numbers for Challengers, I have an important update on the global box office for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. As I have been saying for weeks, the film was on course to break even and make a profit at some point early in its release; the main question was how long that would take. By adding another $10 million or so domestically and with updates from China and the other international markets, we can officially say that Godzilla x Kong has become profitable. Based on all of the reports that are currently available, the movie has now made about $13,619,000 in net profits after taking into account budget, marketing, and the typical cuts between studios and theaters. Based even on the rates of inflation, this seems to be now officially the most profitable movie in the entire “Monsterverse.” Though this does not mean it has the highest overall box office or total number of ticket sales, it is still an impressive accomplishment.

According to the-numbers.com, the top 5 this weekend domestically were:

1. Challengers ($15 million as new release)
2. Unsung Hero ($7.7 million as new release)
3. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (25% drop in 5th weekend)
4. Civil War (38% drop in 3rd weekend)
5. Abigail (49% drop in 2nd weekend)

Why Alan Ritchson Has Little to Nothing to Do with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Flopping

There has been a lot of talk about why the new Henry Cavill and Guy Ritchie film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is flopping at the box office. Many have said that the politically charged comments from one of the film’s supporting stars, Alan Ritchson, is either the main reason the film is failing or, at the very least, a prominent contributing factor. When we look at the history of Guy Ritchie’s films, however, it is clear that any impact Ritchson could have had is likely minuscule to nonexistent, so small that it would be impossible to quantify.

To start with the first and only argument needed to put this whole thing to bed, let’s talk about how the domestic opening for this newest film matches up against the last few Guy Ritchie releases. The order from first to last comparing domestic opening weekends is as follows:

1. The Gentlemen (2021) with $12.5 million
2. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) with $8.9 million
3. Wrath of Man (2021) with $8.8 million
4. The Covenant (2023) with $6.3 million
5. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023) with $3.1 million

As you can see, comparing all of Guy Ritchie’s releases since 2021 shows that this latest is right in line with what his films tend to make in their opening weekends. One can also see that it made more in the opening weekend than all of these films other than The Gentlemen. From this point alone, you have to jump through a lot of hoops to argue that the box office was impacted negatively in any way… let alone from the comments of one actor. The fact is that most people in the general audience either do not know or do not care about the behind-the-scenes politics or personal comments made by stars. That Alan Ritchson is not a massive draw in the first place makes this argument not only nonsensical but downright ignorant. Add to all this the fact that the movie opened to just about the same as had been projected weeks before and that Ministry was almost universally called “mediocre at best,” and blaming one actor while ignoring what Ritchie’s films have been making is a fruitless argument.

For video coverage of this weekend’s box office, check out my latest video HERE.

If you want further analysis on these or any other films, check out the full charting I do over at my website. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and, as always, God bless!

(If you ever want further insight into my methodology, see my previous articles HERE and HERE and the RCC method I use to break down movies internationally HERE.)