K:SI - Box Office Discussion

[Cookson]

Just think the next two MonsterVerse movies hit 500 million+ which I'm sure they will, we'll be at 2 billion+ then.

GvK is hitting a billion, no doubt about that. I'm expecting KotM to hit $650-800 million, so that would put us at nearly three billion. I'm hoping KotM somehow ends up hitting a billion as well and GvK ends up being the highest grossing film of all time.

GKOTM: 500-650
GvsKong: 600-800

[TheSecondComing]

Godzilla = bigger gross in the US
Kong = bigger gross overseas.

This is the King Kong vs. Godzilla double ending all over again!

[Gothicserpent]

I can't see GvK earning a billion.

[miguelnuva]

With Godzilla and Kong both tracking better than the early MCU films if Kotm delivers on the monster action Godzilla vs Kong could easily hit a billion.

[GigaBowserG]

I can't see GvK earning a billion.

I can't either, but I'd be ecstatic if it came anywhere near close. If it performs as near, as well, or better than Batman v Superman, I'll be extremely happy.

[Hokmuto]

Here are my predictions:
G: KotM- $100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (Optimistic)
$550-700 (Neutral)
$0 (Pessimistic)

Godzilla vs Kong- $10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (Optimistic)
$700-900 (Neutral)
$0 (Pessimistic

I don't quite think Godzilla vs Kong could get 1 billion, but I think there is a chance.

[Showa Gyaos]

I'm expecting $700 million to $850 million for Godzilla vs. Kong.

[Chrispy_G]

I'm going to throw these numbers out there:

Pacific Rim - $411 Million worldwide
Godzilla - $529 Million worldwide
Kong: Skull Island - $534 Million worldwide(and counting)

Since the "rebirth" of the kaiju genre in 2013...we've seen each major entry outperform the last. Some may want to throw Power Rangers into this lot....but that has a giant monster in the 3rd act, and is by no means a "Kaiju Film" in the way that the above 3 are.

So yeah, the numbers are growing.

Kong: Skull Island will finish fairly close to $600M by the time it is all said and done. If Pacific Rim: Uprising could somehow top it with around $600M, and then Godzilla: King of the Monsters reach towards $650-$700M....that would be amazing.

We could maybe be in a place where Godzilla vs Kong MIGHT be able to shoot for $1 Billion. Worth remembering that in 2020, reaching $1 Billion worldwide won't be as monumental of a task as it used to be...but it would still be a massive achievement for this genre that people claim to be 'niche'.

I have nothing against superhero movies, but I would love to see the fall of the superhero genre coincide with the rise of the Kaiju genre.

[Godzilla The King]

I'm being real here, kaiju films will probably never be THE blockbusters but I'm glad they are successes. They don't need to be the big films for me.

[Ryguy]

Uprising probably won't even break 450, maybe even 400. I don't have very high hopes for that movie, because the first didn't show that it had potential. It was a well-received movie in general but still lost to Grown Ups 2 opening weekend.

I'm indifferent though, because I already know it won't make money, so I don't care. I know that Pacific Rim was always for the fans of the kaiju genre from Day One.

Added in 11 minutes 47 seconds:
Also, this so-called "superhero fatigue" is purely fictional. If it were real, people would've grown tired of those movies a long time ago, but they've been consistently making into the billions as of late (or at least very close). Superhero movies will always be at the top with Star Wars, and I'm ok with that, because I love 'em. It's a real shame that not many of you guys like superhero films as much as I do

I think those cheap-ass jumpscare horror flicks like The Conjuring and Insidious will die-out first. Those didn't really start to explode until post-2010, and they've been the exact same formula ever damn time. People still flock to that shit? Honestly, "It" looks like the same joyless trash

[vibramrunner]

Your response could've been much shorter.
This would've done just fine, for example: "I don't care what critics think. Just give me more spectacle. I don't care about substance. Who cares if these films are panned, just as long as I have fun?" PJ's King Kong was an amazing flick, and one which still holds up.

We're in agreement on the superhero crap. I, for one, never cared much about the superhero sub genre. If people want to talk about monster movies all being the same, then they must concede the same holds true for their oh-so-precious superhero films.

If we decide that these movies don't need to be given had work over Oscar-worthy scripts, and just settle for spectacle, and we end up with something like Zilla 98, then the fans and general audience have to shoulder much of the blame for the inadvertent dumbing down of future films.

I don't want a Godzilla: King of the Monsters to be filled with dumb one-liners and mindless action. Each sequence must have a reason and rhyme, and flow organically.

I thought that commenter's response was pretty on point. I really enjoyed the pacing of K:SI and I appreciate the comparison to Jurassic Park. I agree that the emphasis was on making a good movie, but not necessarily a epic, Oscar-worthy movie. Frankly, I think Godzilla 1998 suffered from being overly ambitious and collapsed under its own weight -- it almost felt like two movies being pasted together starting at the egg scenes, and it ended up feeling a lot longer than its 2 hour 20 minute runtime.

Back to the BO discussion, I feel like at this point Legendary needs to be planning for a hit in KotM and swing for the fences. Bring the budget to around 200-220 M and really take some time with the CGI. In the Forbes article linked by Riguy (which was well worth the read), the author talks about how Legendary has done a great job with creating distinct movies with varying tones, so I think Legendary should trust that 1.) they've created a sizeable fan base genuinely interested in this iteration of KK and G 2.) that the movies themselves are good enough, and different enough, that KotM won't suffer "the sequel effect" and have a drop in results. KotM should shoot for 650 million WW gross.

[Chrispy_G]

I believe the superhero genre is starting to approach levels of a "That has been done to death" response from the masses. There are dozens of superhero TV shows churning out new episodes every week, and between Marvel Studios, DC, and Fox, there are dozens of films...multiple churned out every year.

I think where the giant monster/giant robot genre could find a lot of success is scale. Nowadays there is more and more pressure/interest in making the trip to the theater worth it, delivering these huge scale blockbusters that 'must be seen on the big screen', and premium large format theaters like IMAX get even more attention for the event films.

Well...it is hard to get bigger and more epic in scope than massive creatures that can level cities. So I think there is room for plenty of appeal even if these films will never be on the level of something like Star Wars in terms of cultural impact.

As far as Pacific Rim: Uprising, I think there is room for pretty significant growth with the sequel. I think the first developed a good reputation after a lot of people missed it in theaters. Evidently if the home market sales and ancillary merchandise and whatnot hadn't been as strong as it was then there wouldn't have even been a sequel.

Beyond that, it has a less crowded release date in February instead of July like the first film. Also, John Boyega is the lead instead of Charlie Hunnam. Going off of what I've seen of both, Boyega has a lot more on-screen charisma and makes for a more compelling lead.

Beyond that, Charlie Hunnam was basically a no-name leading the first film(Being a TV star off of Sons of Anarchy isn't worth much in the blockbuster world)

Meanwhile, by the time Pacific Rim: Uprising comes out, Jon Boyega will have co-starred in not one, but two Star Wars films...Episode 8 will probably be almost as successful as Episode 7 was. He'll be a much more recognizable face than Hunnam ever was heading into the first film.

I also think the film is going to perform much better in China, considering the first film performed very well and now Legendary is a Chinese owned company.

[vibramrunner]

Uprising probably won't even break 450, maybe even 400. I don't have very high hopes for that movie, because the first didn't show that it had potential. It was a well-received movie in general but still lost to Grown Ups 2 opening weekend.

I'm indifferent though, because I already know it won't make money, so I don't care. I know that Pacific Rim was always for the fans of the kaiju genre from Day One.

Added in 11 minutes 47 seconds:
Also, this so-called "superhero fatigue" is purely fictional. If it were real, people would've grown tired of those movies a long time ago, but they've been consistently making into the billions as of late (or at least very close). Superhero movies will always be at the top with Star Wars, and I'm ok with that, because I love 'em. It's a real shame that not many of you guys like superhero films as much as I do

I think those cheap-ass jumpscare horror flicks like The Conjuring and Insidious will die-out first. Those didn't really start to explode until post-2010, and they've been the exact same formula ever damn time. People still flock to that shit? Honestly, "It" looks like the same joyless trash

The horror flicks are truly horrible (see what I did there!!). They exist because 1.) they are usually low budget and 2.) they appeal to the younger audiences who haven't seen other recycled versions of the same thing yet.

[Chrispy_G]

For the record, I was a huge fan of superhero movies for a long time, but the various series have settled into formulas, or variations on the formulas...that makes each one a bit less interesting and exciting.

And no, the genre isn't just going to implode over night. But contributing factors in the death of the Western were the surging popularity of Western TV shows(Why pay to see what I get on TV every week?) and Western Comedies that lampooned the genre(Like what Deadpool did last year)

People already sing the praises of how the DC TV universe is much more enjoyable and stronger than the DC film series currently is, and as I said, Deadpool poked fun at the genre tropes in a lot of ways. You get jokes about how 'timelines are confusing' and 'The studio couldn't afford more X-Men'...then a few months later X-Men: Apocalypse has a much lower box office turnout than Days of Future Past.

It isn't a dying genre, it isn't going away any time soon...but from 2002-to-2012, the 'ceiling' for the box office of these films seemed to keep going up. Spider-Man 3 was bigger worldwide than Spider-Man, The Dark Knight was bigger than that, The Avengers was the biggest superhero film ever with $1.5 Billion.

But in the last half decade, we haven't seen that mark surpassed or even reached...not by superhero films at least, Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens both proved that audiences will turn out in greater numbers than they did for The Avengers.

It isn't a dying genre, but it is no longer on the upswing that it was on for basically a decade. Wonder Woman will make the least of these DC Extended Universe films, and Justice League probably won't even make as much as Batman v Superman.

Also...horror isn't going any where, that is like saying 'blockbusters' will go away. There are 'genres' like horror, action, comedy...and more specific things, sub-genres like superhero films, giant monster films and Westerns....those are the kind of films that can go in and out of style. Heck...in the past few months we've already had Split and Get Out, two phenomenally received horror films.

[The Octopus]

Godzilla = bigger gross in the US
Kong = bigger gross overseas.

This is the King Kong vs. Godzilla double ending all over again!

That's why Godzilla vs King Kong (2020) should have 2 endings. In the US Version Godzilla wins but in the International version King Kong wins.

[RamshackleRanger]

Godzilla = bigger gross in the US
Kong = bigger gross overseas.

This is the King Kong vs. Godzilla double ending all over again!

That's why Godzilla vs King Kong (2020) should have 2 endings. In the US Version Godzilla wins but in the International version King Kong wins.

That would be awful. There would need to be two versions of every future MonsterVerse film based on each ending.

[vibramrunner]

@Chrispy-G -- Split and Get Out weren't generic horror films though; they weren't a repeat of the same thing over and over and over like Insidious, Blair Witch/held camera genre, etc. I think he was just speaking on the generic ones. I love a good horror film personally.

[Kongamera]

Kong Vs Godzilla is a rematch between two most iconic movie monsters in the world that took more than 60 years to finally happen; and as long as it doesn't turns out to be Batman Vs Superman levels of bad, I could easily see it making a billion dollars at box office.

[Gothicserpent]

I feel like most people will look at it and dismiss it as kiddie trash.

[Pkmatrix]

I feel like most people will look at it and dismiss it as kiddie trash.

I see no reason whatsoever to believe that. Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island weren't dismissed as such, why would GvK?