Mortal Kombat 2 vs. Devil Wears Prada 2 Box Office Showdown Finally Has Clear Winner

After the spring saw massive box office hits like Project Hail Mary, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Michael, the summer movie season has gotten off to a strong start. The Devil Wears Prada 2 may not necessarily be what comes to mind when one thinks of the typical summer blockbuster, but the legacy sequel grossed $76.7 million domestically in its opening weekend. As it looked to repeat as box office champion, it had a notable challenger to contend with: the video game adaptation Mortal Kombat II. Heading into the weekend, projections had the two titles in a tight race for the No. 1 spot, but now a clear winner has emerged.

According to Deadline, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is poised to win its second straight weekend with an estimated $41 million domestically. It has a slight edge over Mortal Kombat II, which is on tap to earn $38.7 million domestically in its debut.

Will Mortal Kombat II Have Legs at the Box Office?

Prior to its debut, tracking had Mortal Kombat II projected to earn somewhere between $40-45 million domestically this weekend. The high end of those estimates would have been enough to outgross the domestic total of 2021’s Mortal Kombat (a COVID-era release that was day-and-date on streaming, it should be noted). Obviously, Mortal Kombat II fell short of even the low end of the initial projections. It’s become common for titles to exceed expectations, but Mortal Kombat II went in the opposite direction. It’s further proof that box office predictions are not an exact science.

Word of mouth could be the main culprit why Mortal Kombat II couldn’t meet the original estimates. Its Rotten Tomatoes score, which was 73% as of Thursday, May 7th, is currently 65%. While that’s still a solid mark good enough to be considered fresh, this development illustrates that a significant portion of the reviews that have come in the past few days have been mostly negative, driving the score down. Mortal Kombat is an iconic gaming franchise with a built-in audience, but films need to appeal outside of their core demographic to outperform at the box office. The lukewarm nature of the reception might have discouraged more casual viewers from checking the action sequel out on the big screen.

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That doesn’t bode well for Mortal Kombat II‘s box office legs. Typically, genre films such as this can be front-loaded, meaning the opening weekend is carried by excited fans eager to see the movie as soon as possible before business dies down. A key reason why Project Hail Mary held so well as it did is because it received near-unanimous praise and was hailed as a sci-fi masterpiece, making it a must-see cinematic event. The general consensus about Mortal Kombat II is that it’s a fun time for fans of the games, but it seems to be lacking the buzz needed to propel a lengthy run.

It’s telling that Mortal Kombat II had trouble fighting off Michael (which made $36.5 million) in the biopic’s third weekend. That indicates general audiences aren’t fully onboard with seeing the video game adaptation in theaters. One thing working in Mortal Kombat II‘s favor is that it isn’t facing much competition for its main demographic, so perhaps it can advantage of the buffer between it and The Mandalorian and Grogu. But even if the numbers start to fall now, Mortal Kombat II should still be in a solid position to turn a profit. Its production budget of $80 million means it didn’t have to break the bank to end up in the black.

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