Mortal Kombat: Is the Box Office Good Enough for a Sequel?

At a price tag that big, under normal circumstances $48.5 million would be a disappointment. As a general rule of thumb, blockbusters need to earn more than half of their budget at the domestic box office during opening weekend to have a hope of breaking even. And even in the COVID era, where competition is slight, week-to-week drops can still be significant with GvK falling more than 56 percent in its second weekend. In normal times, that would be considered a healthy drop (Godzilla: King of the Monsters fell more than 67 percent), but with limited capacity and wary audiences keeping attendance down, the film still hasn’t cracked $100 million domestically.

However, can that be held against the movie or franchise right now? It also overperformed in China and has grossed more than $400 million worldwide, more than quadruple what Wonder Woman 1984 did a few months ago. And, again, the movie is still available on HBO Max until the end of April—and has therefore been available around the world for illegal . In this context, the movie appears to be doing really well, but how that affects WB and Legendary Pictures’ decision to go forward with a sequel is difficult to read.

Luckily for Mortal Kombat, it was always intended to be a smaller hit, and according to reports its budgeted is only $55 million. If that is accurate, the film almost earned half its production cost back in its opening weekend, despite being available on streaming. It has also already grossed more than $51 million worldwide. If it follows a similar trajectory to Godzilla vs. Kong in the U.S., it should gross over $40 million in the next three weeks. While that is hardly a huge number compared to its budget, it might still be accompanied by a healthy international run. Ergo, the movie has a much better chance of turning a profit at the box office alone.

When one factors in that the movie is also serving the dual purpose of providing content for WarnerMedia’s still nascent HBO Max streaming service, it could be construed as a success. But then how a conglomerate like WarnerMedia, which arguably is now valuing streaming content more highly than theatrical runs, judges success remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, if it can remain a franchise budgeted below $100 million, Mortal Kombat’s cinematic future—be it in theaters or on streaming—looks more tangible than most. In 2021 that s for something.