Monkey Man Box Office Passes Huge Global Milestone (But Hits A Domestic Hurdle)

Monkey Man is passing a major milestone at the global box office despite stumbling in the domestic arena. The new action movie was directed by star Dev Patel, who plays Kid, a young man who seeks revenge against the rich people responsible for the death of his family. The movie opened at No. 2 on its debut weekend, outranking the IP-driven horror title The First Omen, which was the other new release in theaters at the time.

Per Deadline, the Monkey Man release has hit a snag at the domestic box office during its second weekend, falling out of the Top 5 completely and landing at No. 6 with a 3-day total of $4.1 million despite playing in eight more theaters than the previous weekend. There was also a lack of major competition, as the only new release to rank higher on the chart was Alex Garland’s Civil War. However, per Collider, the movie has nevertheless passed a major global milestone, pushing past $20 million overall to hit a cumulative total of $22 million.

Overall, Monkey Man Is Still A Success

The Dev Patel Action Movie Was Originally Meant For Streaming

The movie’s domestic performance in week 2 despite strong Monkey Man reviews could be disheartening, especially considering the fact that it fell behind the third-weekend gross of the underperforming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. However, it can still be considered a financial success overall despite falling out of the Top 5. There are quite a few reasons for this, but it is profitable by nearly every measure.

First of all, the average movie needs to make twice its production budget in order to make a profit, which would likely place the movie’s break-even point at $20 million. It has already crossed that threshold after just 10 days, which is a very good sign for the movie’s eventual worldwide run and the possible Monkey Man 2. However, its unusual path to the screen likely means that it has already made even more of a profit.

Monkey Man was originally bought for $30 million by Netflix midway through production, which already accounted for its production budget. However, when it was later dropped by the streamer, it was picked up by Universal for roughly $9 million, which would mean they likely only needed it to make $18 million in order to recoup their investment. All in all, the movie could have dropped even further down the chart and still have been considered a financial success, so any future box office it draws in will likely be pure profit on top of its solid return on investment.

Source: Deadline & Collider