Godzilla: King of the Monsters had a fantastic marketing campaign, showcasing immaculate imagery of the Toho monsters through precisely edited trailers. But it seems as though Legendary and Warner Bros.' efforts are not paying off on that front, with the sequel taking a significant drop from its predecessor.
The Godzilla sequel is projected to make almost half of what its predecessor did in 2014, in addition to opening below Kong: Skull Island, its cinematic universe counterpart.
Deadline is reporting that Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be making $51+ million on its domestic opening weekend, based on its $19.7 million Friday, and falling below its weekend projections of $60-65 million.
But will the film ultimately bomb? Contrary to popular belief, sequels often make less money than their predecessors, unless a significant fanbase had been established since the original's release. While 2014's Godzilla was ultimately profitable, it only made a little more than double its domestic opening weekend. If the sequel performs the same, analysts are looking at a $100-120 finish for the King of the Monsters, which is far less than its reported $185 million production budget.
The break even point for the 2014 original was $405 million, but the film overcame that with $530 worldwide. Considering the fact that the marketing and production budget for the sequel was significantly higher, and its worldwide opening is on par with the original, its hard to see any significant profit or any profit at all for the studios behind the film.
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