‘Demon Slayer’ Gets Its Revenge, Stealing The Top Spot From ‘Mortal Kombat’ In A Tight Race For No. 1 At The Box Office
At the end of the day, box-office success isn’t measured solely by opening-weekend numbers. Sometimes it’s a marathon, not a sprint. As proof, you need look no further than the newly reversed fortunes of Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer: Mugen Train.
Last weekend, the two new releases battled tooth-and-nail all the way to the finish line, with Mortal Kombat narrowly edging out Demon Slayer: Mugen Train. But now, just a week later, the two films have swapped positions in another box-office nail-biter. And this time, it was FUNimation Entertainment’s anime adventure Demon Slayer that came out on top by the narrowest of margins.
Already a bonafide blockbuster overseas, the R-rated Demon Slayer pulled in $6.4 million in its second weekend in North America. And despite nose-diving -69.7% from the previous frame, the film managed a $3,359 per-screen average in 1,905 theaters. More impressive is how the film has performed abroad, where its $394.3 million haul dwarfs its current $34.1 domestic total. Its cumulative worldwide gross to date stands at $428.4 million, which makes it the highest-grossing anime film of all time. It is also the highest-grossing movie in Japan ever with its $368 million in that country. On the domestic front, the movie is currently the third-highest-grossing anime film of all time behind only Pokemon: The First Movie and Pokemon: The Movie 2000 .
As for the newly toppled Mortal Kombat, the second-place finisher added $6.2 million in its second weekend, registering an equally significant -73.4% drop from the prior weekend. The R-rated adaptation of the hit videogame franchise scored a $1,991 per-screen average in 3,114 theaters (despite also being available free of charge for HBO Max subscribers), bringing its two-week domestic total to $34.1 million. So far, it has added $32.8 million from overseas territories, bringing its worldwide box office total to $66.9 million.
In third place again was Warner Bros.’ kaiju kings, Godzilla vs. Kong, which collected $2.7 million in its fifth frame. The titanic PG-13-rated tentpole lost some more steam, dropping off -36.1% from the previous weekend. The movie earned a $1,064 per-screen average in 2,573 theaters over the weekend despite also being available on the HBO Max. Godzilla vs. Kong’s domestic total now sits at $90.3 million. If it keeps roaring along for a couple more weeks, it should become the first film since the pandemic began to cross the $100-million mark domestically. Meanwhile, after adding the monster mash-up’s $325.1 million in foreign receipts, its worldwide box-office total is a healthy $415.4 million.
In fourth place was the weekend’s top newcomer, Open Road’s horror film Separation, which scared up $1.8 million in its debut. Despite dreadful reviews, the R-rated chiller about a young girl and her widowed father being haunted from beyond earned a $1,045 per-screen average in 1,751 theaters. It has not yet opened internationally.
Rounding out the Top Five was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. In its ninth week, the PG-rated computer-animated adventure padded its take with $1.3 million domestically, falling -23.3% from last weekend. Despite also being available as a premium VOD rental on the Disney+ streaming platform for a $30 fee, the film had a $737 per-screen average in 1,810 theaters, bringing its domestic box-office total to $41.6 million. Overseas, Raya has racked up $59.3 million to date, pushing its current worldwide total to approximately $100.9 million.
The weekend’s only other debuts of note were a re-release of Universal’s 2010 romantic, action, videogame, fantasia Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which bowed in eighth place with $720,000 in 152 theaters, which translates into a $4,736 per-screen average (the PG-13-rated film grossed $32.2 million domestically in its initial run), and Vertical Entertainment’s Glenn Close-Mila Kunis R-rated sobriety drama Four Good Days, which opened in eleventh place with $303,000 in 298 theaters, good enough for a $1,016 per-screen average. Neither film has opened overseas yet.
On a final note, the traditional post-Oscars bump that hardware-winning films tend to get over the weekend after the awards show was largely a moot point this year since so many of the victorious films debuted on streaming services and bypassed theaters all together, such as 2020’s biggest prize-winner, Nomadland. The fact that the broadcast’s ratings were the lowest in recent memory certainly didn’t help send people to the multiplex to see what they’d missed either.
Last weekend, the two new releases battled tooth-and-nail all the way to the finish line, with Mortal Kombat narrowly edging out Demon Slayer: Mugen Train. But now, just a week later, the two films have swapped positions in another box-office nail-biter. And this time, it was FUNimation Entertainment’s anime adventure Demon Slayer that came out on top by the narrowest of margins.
Already a bonafide blockbuster overseas, the R-rated Demon Slayer pulled in $6.4 million in its second weekend in North America. And despite nose-diving -69.7% from the previous frame, the film managed a $3,359 per-screen average in 1,905 theaters. More impressive is how the film has performed abroad, where its $394.3 million haul dwarfs its current $34.1 domestic total. Its cumulative worldwide gross to date stands at $428.4 million, which makes it the highest-grossing anime film of all time. It is also the highest-grossing movie in Japan ever with its $368 million in that country. On the domestic front, the movie is currently the third-highest-grossing anime film of all time behind only Pokemon: The First Movie and Pokemon: The Movie 2000 .
As for the newly toppled Mortal Kombat, the second-place finisher added $6.2 million in its second weekend, registering an equally significant -73.4% drop from the prior weekend. The R-rated adaptation of the hit videogame franchise scored a $1,991 per-screen average in 3,114 theaters (despite also being available free of charge for HBO Max subscribers), bringing its two-week domestic total to $34.1 million. So far, it has added $32.8 million from overseas territories, bringing its worldwide box office total to $66.9 million.
In third place again was Warner Bros.’ kaiju kings, Godzilla vs. Kong, which collected $2.7 million in its fifth frame. The titanic PG-13-rated tentpole lost some more steam, dropping off -36.1% from the previous weekend. The movie earned a $1,064 per-screen average in 2,573 theaters over the weekend despite also being available on the HBO Max. Godzilla vs. Kong’s domestic total now sits at $90.3 million. If it keeps roaring along for a couple more weeks, it should become the first film since the pandemic began to cross the $100-million mark domestically. Meanwhile, after adding the monster mash-up’s $325.1 million in foreign receipts, its worldwide box-office total is a healthy $415.4 million.
In fourth place was the weekend’s top newcomer, Open Road’s horror film Separation, which scared up $1.8 million in its debut. Despite dreadful reviews, the R-rated chiller about a young girl and her widowed father being haunted from beyond earned a $1,045 per-screen average in 1,751 theaters. It has not yet opened internationally.
Rounding out the Top Five was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. In its ninth week, the PG-rated computer-animated adventure padded its take with $1.3 million domestically, falling -23.3% from last weekend. Despite also being available as a premium VOD rental on the Disney+ streaming platform for a $30 fee, the film had a $737 per-screen average in 1,810 theaters, bringing its domestic box-office total to $41.6 million. Overseas, Raya has racked up $59.3 million to date, pushing its current worldwide total to approximately $100.9 million.
The weekend’s only other debuts of note were a re-release of Universal’s 2010 romantic, action, videogame, fantasia Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which bowed in eighth place with $720,000 in 152 theaters, which translates into a $4,736 per-screen average (the PG-13-rated film grossed $32.2 million domestically in its initial run), and Vertical Entertainment’s Glenn Close-Mila Kunis R-rated sobriety drama Four Good Days, which opened in eleventh place with $303,000 in 298 theaters, good enough for a $1,016 per-screen average. Neither film has opened overseas yet.
On a final note, the traditional post-Oscars bump that hardware-winning films tend to get over the weekend after the awards show was largely a moot point this year since so many of the victorious films debuted on streaming services and bypassed theaters all together, such as 2020’s biggest prize-winner, Nomadland. The fact that the broadcast’s ratings were the lowest in recent memory certainly didn’t help send people to the multiplex to see what they’d missed either.
