This sure isn’t Godzilla Minus One, as the early reviews are now out for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, where the flick is getting stomped on by Rotten Tomatoes; however, it’s box office is a smashing success.
While Minus One has a near perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score from both fans and critics – and an Oscar to boot – Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is only at a 60% Rotten Tomatoes Score from the critics with 88 reviews.
The number is the worst of the new movies which includes 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong at 76%, the 2014 Godzilla at 76%, and Kong: Skull Island at 76%.
Update: Score has dropped to “Rotten” with a 52%; however, the fans are liking what they are seeing as the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score is at 92%.
The box office also seems to be performing better than expected as the Thursday previews are at a franchise best $10M, which beats out the 2014’s Godzilla‘s $9.3M back in 2014 (not really when inflation is factored in which would be $12.19M on today’s dollars, but a win’s a win, I guess).
Sunday update: The Rotten Tomatoes Score from the critics is now at 55% with 168 reviews; the Audience Score sees a slight bump and is now at 93%. The CinemaScore is an “A-.”
Box Office:
The Godzilla x Kong box office is performing better than the estimates and is now said to have brought in an opening of $80 million thanks to a lot of walk ups and word-of-mouth ticket purchases.
The flick is also presently at a $194M global haul and is tracking higher than the two previous films.
Thur/Fri: $37M
Sat: $26.6M
Sun: $16.4M
DOMESTIC (41.2%): $80,000,000
INTERNATIONAL (58.8%): $114,000,000
WORLDWIDE: $194,000,000
Original article continues:
It’s likely just as I said about the first reactions, if you are a fan of these types of movies, you’ll probably like Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
I saw Legendary and Warner Bros. using one of the positive reviews on social media to promote the flick where it said something like it’s “if Christopher Nolan and the WWE did a monster movie” — bro, what???! LOL.
I’ll be honest, that first trailer did turn me off especially when it showed Godzilla and Kong running side by side, in addition to the pink “Barbie” hue of Godzilla, and with Kong sporting an Infinity Gauntlet or whatever. My initial reaction is they are trying to make it a Marvel movie, which we all know isn’t such a good thing, LOL, but hey, maybe GXK will be a fun movie. I never really go into Godzilla movies expecting much, but Minus One was done really well and is quite serious, but this seems the exact opposite. Again, probably a fun movie that you don’t have to think much about.
Check out some of the negative reviews below.
What do the negative reviews say?
Here is a selection of negative reviews from some of the “Top Critics” listed on Rotten Tomatoes:
“X” is also the symbol that should have been prodigiously used to cross out the script’s many, many stupid ideas. – NY Post
Despite the addition of some new characters (human and otherwise), “Kong x Godzilla: The New Empire” comes across as a relatively uninspired and repetitive effort and a fairly forgettable chapter in the Monsterverse saga. – Chicago Sun Times
About halfway through Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, I turned to a fellow critic to ask a desperate question: What the hell is this movie about? – Mashable
“Godzilla x Kong” doesn’t multiply or divide, exactly, but in its tilt toward only those who are extremely invested in this increasingly silly franchise, it doesn’t conquer, either. – CNN.com
For fans longing to see Titans, as the Monsterverse creatures are called, go at each other – again and again and again – it’s fine. For anyone else, it’s just another Kong movie, with Godzilla himself a kind of sideshow. – BBC
The people who’ve inherited this franchise are so determined to make it “fun” that they’ve forgotten how to earn that feeling. – indieWire
The kaiju of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire don’t stand for anything but themselves. They’re just giant monsters that occasionally fight one another, which would be forgivable if the fighting in the movie weren’t so torpid. – Vulture
Every single scene is explained like a high school book report. It’s been said over and over again that you want to show, not tell, every chance you get. – Arizona Republic
There is very little emotion or inspiration underneath the orgiastic violence and, especially in the wake of last year’s ingenious Japanese-produced Godzilla Minus One, The New Empire feels old hat. – Screen International
