Box Office: ‘Mortal Kombat’ Nears $20M Overseas As ‘Nobody’ Nears $35M Global

Mortal Kombat

Warner Bros.
In box office news that isn’t related to Godzilla Vs. Kong ($80.5 million domestic and $390 million worldwide), Warner Bros.’ next would-be theatrical savior (relatively speaking) continued its slow global roll. Mortal Kombat, an over/under $95 million R-rated adaptation of the popular and long-running video game series, earned another $5.7 million from 6,128 screens in 28 markets. That brings its global cume to $19.2 million, including $9.6 million in Russia. The James Wan-produced and Simon McQuoid-directed action fantasy opens in North America this Friday, and it damn-well better contain both babalities and friendships! Don’t save that gold for the sequel, give the fans what they want in the first movie!

Mopsy (Elizabeth Debicki), Flopsy (Margot Robbie), Benjamin (Colin Moody), Peter Rabbit (James Corden) and Cottontail (Aimee Horneg) in Columbia Pictures' PETER RABBIT™ 2: THE RUNAWAY.

Sony
Meanwhile, Sony’s Peter Rabbit: The Runaway earned another $2.4 million for a $14.7 million overseas cume in 611 screens in Australia and New Zealand. It dropped just 14% in Australia and has earned $13.5 million thus far. The James Cordon/Rose Byrne/Domhnall Gleeson sequel will open in the UK on May 21 and domestically on June 18 after hopping all around the release schedule over the last few months. The first (surprisingly good) Peter Rabbit earned $110 million domestic (from a $25 million debut) and $350 million global on a $50 million budget, so the presumably pricier sequel doesn’t have to match its predecessor to be a solid hit.

Bob Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell in "Nobody," directed by Ilya Naishuller.

Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures
Universal’s Nobody dropped just 5% yesterday ($1.15 million) for a $2.52 million fourth weekend gross. This despite the film debuting on PVOD this weekend. With $19 million and counting, the buzzy and well-liked Bob Odenkirk action comedy will be Universal’s first live-action flick to pass $20 million since Dolittle and 1917 in January of 2020 (even Cats stalled out at $19.9 million). We’re looking at a $15 million-budgeted R-rated original that has grossed $34.5 million worldwide thus far, not counting whatever it eventually earns in PVOD and post-theatrical streams. Offhand, with good reviews and a likely post-theatrical fanbase, Nobody could be the first “new” theatrical franchise of the Covid era.

'Tom & Jerry'

Warner Bros.
Screen Gems’ surprisingly good The Unholy (one of the better religious horror flicks of late) earned $2 million (-16%) in weekend three for a $9.5 million 17-day cume. That’s nothing worth writing home about, but it’s a $10 million flick that will almost certainly gain an Empty Man-level cult audience in its post-theatrical lifespan. Raya and the Last Dragon has grossed $37.6 million domestic while Warner Bros.’ Tom & Jerry has earned $42.5 million domestic and $100 million worldwide. That’s not exactly a jaw-dropper for the $80 million Chloe Grace Moretz/Michael Pena comedy, but it played exactly as it would have if the poorly-reviewed kid comedy “disappointed” in conventional times.

Lily-Rose Depp (left) as ‘Sela,’ Isaac Hempstead-Wright (left) as ‘Edward,’ Chante Adams (right) as ‘Phoebe,’ and Viveik Kalra (right) as ‘Peter’ in VOYAGERS.

Lionsgate
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s Voyagers earned $790,000 (-43%) in weekend two for a $2.55 million ten-day cume. Lionsgate is only on the hook for distribution, but I still wish (even in pre-Covid times) that folks still went to the movies to see regular movies. Speaking of, Benedict Cumberbatch’s terrific Cold War spy thriller The Courier debuted on PVOD this weekend as it earned $395,000 (-10%) in weekend five for a $5.5 million domestic cume. DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age has earned $57 million domestic and $163.99 million worldwide on a $65 million cume. Couple that with around $100 million in PVOD/VOD revenue and you have yourself a solid hit.

Carey Mulligan in 'Promising Young Woman'

Focus Features
Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking has earned $12.99 million domestic (while being available on PVOD for the last week or so), proving that star power doesn’t mean much. Audiences may love The Force Awakens and Spider-Man: Far from Home, but they couldn’t care less about seeing Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland outside of their marquee franchises. Liam Neeson’s The Marksman and Denzel Washington’s The Little Things have both passed $15 million domestic, for what that’s worth. In terms of Oscar contenders, only Universal’s News of the World ($12.65 million), Focus Features’ Promising Young Woman ($6.32 million) and Warner Bros.’ Judas and the Black Messiah ($5.36 million) have made anything resembling a theatrical impact.

Mortal Kombat movie delivers on video game's bloody brutality
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Author of the article:

Mark Daniell
Ludi Lin as Liu Kang and Max Huang as Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat. Photo by Warner Bros.
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Mortal Kombat has made a name for itself by letting gamers indulge in brutal, no-holds-barred battles. So, it comes as no surprise that the blood splatter fans have been dispensing virtually since the video game’s debut nearly 30 years ago had to stay intact for the new movie reboot (opening Friday).

“The DNA of Mortal Kombat is made up of several key ingredients, and the brutality is one of those,” director Simon McQuoid says in a video call. “But what I loved about that was it allowed us to bring an authenticity to the way the fights play out. I think smart, cinematic, beautiful and epic can fit with brutality.”

“We went up to the edge. In fact, we probably peered over it,” producer Todd Garner adds with a grin in a separate conversation. “In the first 13 minutes of the movie someone gets speared in the head, someone gets turned to ice, a bunch of people get stabbed, a guy gets cut in half, a guy gets stabbed in the heart, turns to dust and disappears. Those first 13 minutes gives you a hint of what’s to come.”

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Co-produced by Aquaman’sJames Wan, this new cinematic take inspired by the fabled video game franchise finds washed-up MMA fighter Cole Young, a new character to this world played by actor Lewis Tan (Wu Assassins, Into the Badlands), drawn into a battle between the evil forces of Outworld and the noble warriors of Earthrealm.
Lewis Tan as Cole Young in Mortal Kombat. Photo by Warner Bros.
In addition to Cole, the film reintroduces characters familiar to fans, including the villainous Sub-Zero (The Raid’s Joe Taslim), Mileena (newcomer Sisi Stringer), Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs (Supergirl’s Mehcad Brooks), Sonya Blade (The Meg’s Jessica McNamee), Kano (Superstore’s Josh Lawrence), Liu Kang (Power Rangers’ Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (stuntman Max Huang) and a CGI Goro.
Josh Lawson as Kano and Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat. Photo by Warner Bros.
Sub-Zero was chosen as one of the film’s main antagonists, McQuoid says, because his “ice powers were very intriguing.”

But Garner says the character is the perfect foil for the heroic and vengeful Scorpion (played by Westworld’s Hiroyuki Sanada).

“We wanted to start with a story that was surprising and heartbreaking and unexpected and (prove) that anyone can die in this movie,” he says. “(Sub-Zero) has an agenda. He is doing something he believes in. He’s not just a mindless villain.”
Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat. Photo by Warner Bros.
McQuoid realizes the legacy of the games — and two previous films — looms large over the new entry, but he says that this new Mortal Kombat had to appeal to both longtime devotees and newcomers to the series.

“There was a constant conversation about respecting the fans and understanding the new audience,” he says. “There are certain details that only super-fans will know. But I would ask a lot of questions to make sure that in pursuit of a new audience, we weren’t pissing off the old fans.”

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“We can’t just do a movie for the fans, but we have to make sure that they’re happy,” Garner adds.

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Garner knows that many eyebrows will be raised by the absence of Johnny Cage, who in the game is a Hollywood action star turned tournament fighter, but the producer is eyeing this movie revamp as a springboard to a cinematic universe of Mortal Kombat films.

“We didn’t have a character we felt strong enough to say, ‘Here’s a Mortal Kombat movie,'” he says. “The thing about the Marvel universe is it can say, ‘Here’s an Iron Man movie, here’s a Thor movie.’ Mortal Kombat is known for its universe, which is a bit of a challenge. In a weird way we had to start with Avengers … we’re going to show you these characters and the universe and by the end … we can go out and make a Johnny Cage movie.”

But not everyone who appears in this first Mortal Kombat will live to fight another day in any potential sequel.
Sisi Stringer as Mileena in Mortal Kombat. Photo by Warner Bros.
“There’s a lot of people who are going to be bummed,” Garner admits. “When you play Mortal Kombat, you have your favourite character. So, we agonized over it because as soon as you kill a character it’s, ‘There goes those fans.’ But again, I want to make something that’s satisfying, and I want to make a lot of (sequels). Hopefully, every fan eventually gets something that they want.”

Mortal Kombat opens in select theatres and is available on demand Friday, April 23

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