LOS ANGELES, June 2 (Xinhua) -- American entertainment company Warner Bros. and Chinese-owned Legendary Entertainment's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" is the new North American box office king, collecting a solid 49.02 million U.S. dollars in its opening weekend.
The monster film is a sequel to 2014's film "Godzilla" and the third film in MonsterVerse, a shared fictional universe that is centered on a series of monster films featuring Godzilla and King Kong, produced by Legendary Entertainment and co-produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Directed by Michael Dougherty, the film stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi among others.
The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species-thought to be mere myths-rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.
"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" took in an estimated 179 million dollars worldwide through Sunday, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.
China is the No. 1 in the 75 overseas markets for the film, which opened simultaneously in North America and China on Friday. The monster film took top spot of the Chinese mainland box office through Sunday with about 466 million yuan (about 67.5 million U.S. dollars), China's film news portal Mtime reported.
Chinese film marketing and investment company Huahua Media has joined Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. as a global partner on "Godzilla: King of the Monsters." The Beijing- and Shanghai-based company will help California-based Legendary Entertainment and its Chinese parent company, Dalian Wanda Group, market the film across China, according to American entertainment magazine The Hollywood Reporter.
