Box office: Monkey gods and Antichrists are no match for Godzilla x Kong

Also, Someone Like You was the latest "faith-based" film to land in the top ten.

Dev Patel and his gorilla mask in Monkey Man.

Primates ruled the box office this weekend, as the top two spots went to a blockbuster about a gigantic ape and a low-budget revenge flick about a man who wears a gorilla mask.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire—which spends a lot more time on the monstrously huge ape in its title than it does on the giant lizard-like being with atomic breath—topped the chart with an estimated $31.7 million, raising its North American cume to $135 million after two weeks, while Dev Patel’s politically-charged Monkey Man led the week’s newcomers with a lower-than-expected $10.1 million.

Meanwhile, the latest attempt to revive the Omen franchise flopped even harder than last year’s attempt to revive the Exorcist franchise, as The First Omen—a prequel to 1976’s The Omen, about the events that led to the Antichrist’s unnatural birth—fell behind already-modest expectations with a mere $8.4 million.

The “faith-based” genre also notched another top-ten entry—the ninth time it has cracked the list this year—with Someone Like You, an adaptation of Christian novelist Karen Kingsbury’s book about a guy who falls in love with his dead girlfriend’s separated-at-conception IVF twin. It opened in 7th place with $3 million.

A few other highlights from this week’s top ten:

• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire nearly had the worst third weekend of any film in its franchise, even before you adjust for over 30 years of inflation.

• Kung Fu Panda 4 is now one of the top five animated films of the 2020s.

• Dune: Part Two is now the top-grossing film worldwide with Timothée Chalamet in a lead role (but it’s still behind one of his supporting-role movies…).

And now, a few more stats and facts re: this week’s top ten, title by title: