{"id":633410,"date":"2026-05-09T19:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633410\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:27:09","slug":"mortal-kombat-ii-tops-friday-but-continues-to-battle-prada-2-for-mothers-day-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633410\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mortal Kombat II\u2019 Tops Friday but Continues to Battle \u2018Prada 2\u2019 for Mother\u2019s Day Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a battle of the genders, New Line\u2019s video game adaptation\u00a0<\/a>Mortal Kombat II<\/a> and 20th Century\u2019s The Devil Wears Prada 2 are in a close race for No. 1 at the domestic box office.<\/p>\n

The Mortal Kombat sequel, fueled by males, topped Friday with an opening-day gross of $17 million range, including $5.2 million in previews and special Imax sneaks. That puts it on course for a domestic opening in the $40 million to $41 million range; ditto for Prada 2<\/a>, which came in second Friday with $9.8 million for a stellar domestic total of $111.6 million and well north of $300 million globally.<\/p>\n

More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/p>\n

Heading into the weekend, some tracking services showed Mortal Kombat II opening to $45 million or more in North America. New Line and parent company Warner Bros., however, had always predicted a far more conservative launch in the $35 million range to $40 million range for a worldwide bow anywhere between $65 million and $80 million. Males made up more than 75 percent of Friday\u2019s North American audience, which bestowed the film with a B+ CinemaScore.<\/p>\n

Overseas, Mortal Kombat II\u2018s cume through Friday was $8.9 million for an early worldwide total of $25.9 million. In terms of the global weekend chart, Prada 2<\/a> is expected to come in at No. 1.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the first\u00a0Mortal Kombat\u00a0debuted simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max due to the ongoing pandemic. The violent-laced martial arts pic was a huge streaming hit; theatrically, it debuted to $23 million on its way to topping out at $42 million domestically and $84.4 million globally. Simon McQuoid returning to helm Mortal Kombat II from a script by Jeremy Slater and\u00a0Karl Urban joining<\/a> the franchise as fan favorite character Johnny Cage, a washed up \u201990s action star called to take part in a tournament that will determine the fate of Earthrealm.<\/p>\n

The victor of the weekend box office will all come down to Mother\u2019s Day traffic. That would seem to give Prada 2<\/a> an advantage, since it\u2019s fast on its way to becoming the biggest female-driven film since Warner Bros.\u2019\u00a0Barbie\u00a0in 2023 after kicking off the summer box office<\/a> last weekend in high style. The sequel finished Friday with a global total north of the $326 million earned by the first film in its entire run.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget about Lionsgate\u2019s Michael Jackson biopic, which should earn a fantastic $35 million-plus in its third weekend for a projected domestic tally of $240 million and $570 million globally through Sunday. On Friday, it overtook the $216.7 million earned by Bohemian Rhapsody to become the top-grossing music biopic of all time in North America, not adjusted for inflation. And in a second milestone of the day, it crossed $500 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

Other new Mother\u2019s Day offerings, in addition to Mortal Kombat II, include Amazon MGM\u2019s\u00a0The Sheep Detectives<\/a>. The critically acclaimed film is headed for a fourth-place finish with a pleasing domestic opening of $14 million to $15 million after earning an A CinemaScore. The comedy-mystery follows a flock of talking sheep who are determined to solve the suspicious death of their beloved shepherd, played by\u00a0Hugh Jackman<\/a>, who read them detective novels on a regular basis despite having no idea they could understand him. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, directors of 2026 box office hit\u00a0Project Hail Mary<\/a>, are among the film\u2019s executive producers.<\/p>\n

Paramount\u2019s new concert film Billie Eilish\u00a0\u2014 Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)<\/a>, which James Cameron and the artist co-directed, is expected to round out the top five with a domestic opening of $8 million. The pic is coming in on the higher end of expectations (the same goes for Sheep Detectives). Cameron pioneered special 3D\u00a0cameras designed to make moviegoers feel as if they were part of a live experience that he used when filming Eilish.<\/p>\n

And thanks to the appeal of the crowded Mother\u2019s Day marquee, domestic box office revenue is expected to be up more than 87 percent over the same frame last year.<\/p>\n

Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/p>\n

Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a battle of the genders, New Line\u2019s video game adaptation\u00a0Mortal Kombat II and 20th Century\u2019s The Devil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[23323,24425,88,13981,206,50059,112341],"class_list":["post-633410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-devil-wears-prada","tag-domestic-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-mortal-kombat","tag-movies","tag-new-line","tag-prada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}