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| image courtesy WB |
This weekend has proven to be quite an unexpected one for movie theaters and franchises. Two films went head to head in an all out brawl to the death. The reboot of Mortal Kombat did battle against the latest Demon Slayer animated film, but only one could be crowned the champion. Early Friday estimates saw Demon Slayer in the lead by roughly $500,000. The two were neck and neck at $9.5 million and $9 million, with analysts initially thinking that Demon Slayer would be the winner but ultimately Mortal Kombat won out the weekend crown scoring an estimated tally of $22.5 million to the former's $19.5 million.
Not only was this an amazing weekend all in all, but Mortal Kombat took the biggest opening for an R rated film since the coronavirus pandemic started. With vaccination rates rising, many more people are heading back into public and theaters seem to be a primary destination. This is altogether promising for franchise properties and movie theaters alike.
This also shows that the dual release format of theaters and streaming day and date actually does work. We'll continue to watch what happens in the coming weeks as the summer blockbuster season begins to happen!
-CG