‘Monkey Man’ Tops ‘The First Omen’; ‘Godzilla’ No. 1 Again

SATURDAY AM: Refresh for more and chart….After a $8.5M Friday, Legendary/Warner Bros’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has hope that it’s second weekend could back into that $30M vicinity we were projecting earlier this week. The first Godzilla in 2014 had a 67% second frame drop, so anything lighter is great. Even Godzilla vs Kong, which saw its box office impacted by a theatrical day-and-date release on HBO Max had a great second weekend ease of -56%.

Among the new releases, Monkey Man is the stronger next to 20th Century Studios’ The First Omen, $10.5M to $8M+. It seems as though both went after the same demo: Men and 18-34 (both are pulling in around 66%). The difference is Monkey Man is attracting a more diverse crowd with 38% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 14% Black, 17% Asian & 6% other. Dev Patel’s feature directorial debut gets a B+ CinemaScore, which is slightly better than its industry comp, The Northman, which did a B. As expected, it’s playing on the coasts with the AMC Century City in LA the highest grossing venue stateside with $28K plus.

Both results are under their $12M+ projections, however, as we told you, Monkey Man is in the better financial position having been snapped up for less than $10M by Universal. First Omen with a production cost of $30M+ looks like another nun horror movie in a sea of black habits. There’s nothing in the trailer to indicate a connection to the original Richard Donner directed movie. Would that even matter or make a difference? Even those who are in their early 50s were kids when that movie was on marquees. First Omen gets a C CinemaScore.

While Monkey Man is easily second, First Omen will battle for fourth place with Uni/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 which is eyeing $8M.

Monkey Man pulled in 61% men to First Omen‘s 51%. First Omen‘s demos were 39% Caucasian, 39% Latino and Hispanic, 9% Black, 8% Asian & 6% other. First Omen‘s best market is the South Central West with the AMC Burbank the pic’s top location with around $20K.

Interesting to note that Monkey Man hasn’t been given a clearance for release in India yet where Uni has rights. The studio took the film per Jordan Peele’s encouragement as they too noticed it had big screen potential. Netflix, which shelled out a reported $30M for the movie, opted not to release as it was too gritty for the Indian market, a place they’re looking to conquer. Uni doesn’t have Monkey Man in all foreign territories.

iSpot shows that Universal shelled out as much for TV spots on Monkey Man as Warner’s did for GxK –around $16M. Monkey Man‘s campaign, which launched at SXSW, pulled in 331M impressions to Disney’s 265M impressions on First Omen. iSpot shows the Mouse House spending around $4M in spots. Uni aired spots for Monkey Man on NFL games (30.6%), men’s college basketball (27.0%), NBA (8.3%), women’s college basketball (3.4%) and the show Chicago Fire (2.4%). Most ad impressions for Monkey Man were on CBS (50%) and that’s due to that Monkey Man Super Bowl spot.

First Omen spots ran on men’s college basketball, ESPN SportsCenter, NBA games, Law & Order: SVU and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Fathom Events’ special engagement of Someone Like You based on the novel by New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, did $1.6M yesterday for an estimated $3.8M opening. Critics hate it at 38% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences love it at 96%. The movie’s best market is the South where its grabbing 32% of its gross versus the norm of 19%. The AMC Dine In Thoroughbred, Tenn is pulling in the movie’s best gross with just north of $8K.

The whole box office weekend looks to do $86M, which is -58% from the same frame a year ago, which was Easter weekend. That 3-day was jacked up on mushrooms from Super Mario Bros Movie which rallied its frame to $204.7M.

UPDATED, Friday afternoon: Legendary/Warner Bros’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is leading as planned at the weekend B.O. with a $7.5 million second Friday, off 80%, for a what’s shaping up to be a $25M-$28M second frame at 3,948 theaters, down 65% on the high end. Hopefully, there’s more of a bounce.

Universal’s Monkey Man booked at 3,029 theaters is seeing $4.3M today, including last night’s $1.4M, for what’s looking like a $10.5M opening. Even at that level, I’m told Dev Patel’s feature directorial debut will profit after all downstream revenues. Again, Uni acquired from the Bron bankruptcy for less than $10M.

RelishMix counts that the social media universe for Monkey Man stands at 151.9M across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined. “The Super Bowl spot in overtime did move the needle at 4.3M views in the 24 hours, off of little awareness, and had there not been OT, we would not have seen this first spot drop pop from broadcast, which was only seven weeks ago,” says the social stat org. Unfortunately, Patel is off the grid on social media.

On the upside coming out of SXSW, RelishMix says, “Monkey Man convo and tone runs passionately positive, with fans seeking the trailer out or being surprised with the TV spot shown during the Super Bowl celebrating what could be the discovery of an enthralling new IP: ‘I can see this becoming a new surprise great franchise.’ Fans note the intriguing cultural elements, saying ‘About time Hollywood starts exploring other mythologies. I always found Indian folklore and mythology super interesting.’ Appreciation flows for Patel’s confidence in front and behind the camera, one fan saying ‘I wish it becomes a franchise like John Wick because it looks lit’. Plus, action fans, and Patel fans alike praise the film as the perfect combination of both, putting a welcomed cultural twist on a tried and true formula: ‘I had no idea I needed to see Dev Patel as a gritty action hero until this very moment. Now I can’t wait.’ Another exclaims, ‘Bollywood plus John Wick action?! I’m loving this!’”

Third place for the frame will hopefully go to 20th Century Studios/Disney’s The First Omen, a prequel to the Richard Donner-directed 1970s movie. Disney saved the move from going to streaming, giving it a theatrical release at 3,375 theaters. Estimates are around $3M today, and a swing of $8M-$10M over three days.

RelishMix says the social media universe for First Omen is 138.8M, which is 26% under first-installment horror genre norms, or a 48-year-old remake. RelishMix notes, “the campaign runs on studio pages for 20th in lieu of unique pages for the film with a late push in the last two weeks on YouTube.”

Even more scary: “Chatter on The First Omen is running mixed-leaning-negative with posts bemoaning another redundant reboot, saying this is another ‘Hollywood horror flick based on a tired old franchise no one cares about anymore.’ — including those who feel this film can never reach the heights of the original Richard Donner classic. Also, the level of conversation on this film is light in terms of engagement levels. Longtime fans of The Omen franchise are intrigued to this movie’s connectivity to the original film and the clever editing techniques in the trailer, saying ‘I like the meaningful use of reverse as if it’s rewinding to where the story would begin as an Omen origin story’.”

At 3,835 theaters, the frame also marks the third weekend of Sony’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, with an estimated $7.8M in fourth, -56%, for a running total of $87.6M by EOD Sunday. Friday is $2.2M, -59%.

Fifth belongs to Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 in weekend 5 with $1.9M today, and $6.8M, -34%, for a running total of $165M. That’s $200,000 shy of beating Kung Fu Panda 2‘s domestic cume ($165.2M); the fourthquel already KO’d Kung Fu Panda 3‘s $143M-plus stateside result.

PREVIOULSY, Friday AM: Universal/Monkeypaw’s Dev Patel action movie Monkey Man and 20th Century Studios’ First Omen are both projected to do north of $12M, but the former had the edge over the latter on Thursday night in previews, $1.4M to $725K.

Previews for Monkey Man began at 5PM at 2,750 theaters while First Omen‘s started at 7PM.

Legendary and Warner Bros’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire crossed $100M yesterday, and will reign supreme in its second weekend with $32M+. The pic will continue to have Imax while Monkey Man and First Omen share PLFs. For all three, it’s a battle for the 18-34’s mighty dollars. Both Monkey Man and First Omen are rated R.

Reviews for Monkey Man have settled at 85% certified fresh, while First Omen‘s aren’t far behind at 81% fresh. First Omen is booked at 3,375 theaters while Monkey Man is in play at 3,029 venues.

Comps here for Monkey Man are Focus Features’ The Northman which did $1.35M in previews before a $5M Friday (plus previews) and a 3-day of $12.2M. Universal’s Violent Night is also another comp as that did $1.1M in previews, a $4.87M first day and $13.4M 3-day.

Uni acquired Monkey Man for under $10M while First Omen cost Disney in the low $30Ms before P&A.

GxK made $4.1M yesterday, -11% from Wednesday for first week’s haul of $103.3M at 3,861 theaters.

Sony’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire at 4,345 was second for the week with $22.1M in weekend 2 after a $1.3M Thursday, -9% from Wednesday and a running two week total of $79.9M.

The fourth week of Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 saw $16.7M at 3,582 locations after a $1.3M Thursday, -8% from Wednesday and a running total of $158.2M.

Fifth week of Legendary/Warner Bros.’ Dune: Part Two is $16.3M after a fifth Thursday of $1.07M at 3,136, and a running cume of $257.6M.

NEON’s second week of Immaculate saw $4.9M at 2,362 theaters after a $299K Thursday, -25% for a running total of $12.7M.

There’s still portion of spring break in effect per Comscore, with 27% K-12 schools on break and 5% colleges off.