‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Demon Slayer’ open above expectations at the box office

Does this weekend’s strong box office mean moviegoing is returning to some approximation of normal? With about 57% of theaters in the U.S. and Canada reopened for business (albeit at limited capacity), Warner Bros.’ “Mortal Kombat” opened to a surprisingly strong $22.5 million across 3,073 locations, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

It is the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated movie since the coronavirus shutdown closed theaters more than a year ago and the second-largest pandemic-era opening weekend overall, following the studio’s success with “Godzilla vs. Kong” this month.

Based on characters from the popular video game, “Mortal Kombat” is a reboot of the ’90s film series and was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.

Internationally, the film earned $27.6 million, for a global cumulative total of $50.1 million. The film’s reception was mixed, with a B-plus audience grade from CinemaScore and a 55% “rotten” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

In second place, Funimation’s anime blockbuster “Demon Slayer — Kimetsu no Yaiba — the Movie: Mugen Train” premiered to $19.5 million on 1,600 screens. A sequel to the anime television series, the film earned a rare 100% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now in its fourth weekend, “Godzilla vs. Kong” added $4.2 million for a domestic cumulative total of $86.6 million and a global cumulative total of $406.6 million.