Both Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer: Mugen Train saw big debuts at the box office, with the first film narrowly beating the second.
Variety reports that Mortal Kombat saw $22.5 million from 3,073 domestic cinemas. Demon Slayer closely followed with $15.9 million from 1,598 venues through Saturday. Mortal Kombat has seen the second-largest opening during the pandemic, second after Godzilla vs. Kong, which garnered $31 million in March.
This is also the first time since the global health crisis that more than one film has opened with robust domestic box office sales. North American cinemas saw an approximate $54.2 million this past weekend, making it the biggest weekend of the COVID-19 period.
Mortal Kombat saw an international debut of $27.6 million, bringing in a total of $50 million. It seems that the film will probably be in the green soon, given its prudent $55 million budget. The video game adaptation is director Simon McQuoid’s feature debut, and stars Lewis Tan, Mehcad Brooks, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, and Tadanobu Asano.
Demon Slayer is expected to bring in a total of $19.5 million this weekend. The anime action pic has been successful abroad, particularly in Japan, where it has amassed $365 million, becoming the highest-grossing movie ever in that country. The film has surpassed $400 million across all box offices.
