Saturday Update: Warner Bros.’ Godzilla: King of the Monsters took in $19.605 million domestically on opening day Friday, including Thursday night’s $6.3 million start. With a weekend now pacing for the upper $40 million range, and possible upside toward $50 million, these results line up with conservative expectations in recent months following lukewarm reviews and concern over audience goodwill from 2014’s direct predecessor.

Looking at opening day, KOTM‘s take registered 18 percent ahead of The Meg ($16.6 million), 3 percent behind Kong: Skull Island ($20.14 million), 8 percent ahead of San Andreas ($18.15 million), and 49 percent behind Godzilla (2014)‘s $38.4 million. The film played largely to males (67 percent) and those aged 25 and up (59 percent), according to the studio. The film’s Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score is encouraging at 88 percent this morning, despite a 40 percent score from critics.

Internationally, KOTM added $31.4 million on Friday from 75 markets, giving it $48.2 million total from overseas play. Those figures include $18 million from China and $2.2 million from Japan on Friday. Excluded from those numbers, China’s flash estimate for Saturday is $30 million, which would give it a two-day total of $48 million in that country.

Back on the domestic front, Disney’s Aladdin took second place on Friday with $11.907 million, down 62 percent from opening day last Friday — a respectable hold given its loss of PLF screens to this weekend’s openers. The live action remake has earned a solid $154.6 million domestically in its first eight days of play. Boxoffice projects a sophomore frame around $41 million.

Taking third place in its debut, Paramount’s Rocketman opened to a healthy $9.2 million yesterday. That figure includes all pre-Friday earnings (Thursday night shows and Fandango’s May 18 screenings), which skew weekend projections somewhat. Still, the studio notes 60 percent of the audience polled were women, 75 percent were aged 35 and up, and 50 percent were aged 50 and up. That suggests a strong internal weekend multiplier is possible given that opening nights aren’t typically front-loaded by moviegoers in those age ranges.

Early Rocketman word is also indicative toward staying power with an 89 percent Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score, supported by its 90 percent Tomatometer. Although the film had tracked closely with titles such as Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and A Star Is Born leading up to release, the competitive early summer window is proving to hold it back from an opening closer to their levels as forecasts had projected. Still, the film is set to go well past the studio’s $18-20 million pre-weekend expectation with a debut that could land close to $25 million.

Last but not least among openers, Ma earned $7.24 million on opening day — 5 percent more than The Shallows ($6.88 million) in early summer 2016. The latest micro-budget success from Blumhouse is on track for a respectable debut around $18 million this weekend.

Meanwhile, John Wick: Chapter 3 capped the top five with $3.0 million on Friday, and Avengers: Endgame added $2.065 million for an updated domestic haul of $809.8 million after 36 days.

Early weekend estimates are below, with updated studio estimates to follow on Sunday.

Early Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, MAY. 31 – SUN, JUN. 2

WIDE (1000+) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Godzilla: King of the Monsters $49,500,000 — 4,108 — $12,050 $49,500,000 1 Warner Bros. 2 Aladdin $41,000,000 -55% 4,476 0 $9,160 $183,697,174 2 Disney 3 Rocketman $25,000,000 — 3,610 — $6,925 $25,000,000 1 Paramount Pictures 4 Ma (2019) $18,000,000 — 2,808 — $6,410 $18,000,000 1 Universal Pictures 5 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum $10,750,000 -56% 3,604 -246 $2,983 $125,402,812 3 Lionsgate 6 Avengers: Endgame $7,700,000 -55% 3,105 -705 $2,480 $815,388,784 6 Disney 7 POKÉMON Detective Pikachu $6,800,000 -49% 3,147 -677 $2,161 $130,736,211 4 Warner Bros. 8 Booksmart $3,700,000 -47% 2,518 13 $1,469 $14,738,184 2 United Artists Releasing 9 Brightburn $2,400,000 -69% 2,607 0 $921 $14,297,552 2 Sony Pictures 10 The Hustle $1,400,000 -61% 1,407 -970 $995 $33,295,602 4 United Artists Releasing 11 A Dog’s Journey $1,000,000 -76% 1,674 -1605 $597 $18,724,470 3 Universal Pictures

LIMITED (100 — 999) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 The Intruder $775,000 -66% 807 -805 $960 $34,172,166 5 Sony / Screen Gems 2 Dumbo $775,000 -28% 230 -116 $3,370 $113,760,882 10 Walt Disney Pictures 3 Long Shot $340,000 -79% 477 -881 $713 $29,909,693 5 Lionsgate 4 Captain Marvel $178,000 -56% 162 -138 $1,099 $426,189,433 13 Disney 5 Breakthrough $155,000 -60% 251 -300 $618 $40,293,588 7 20th Century Fox

PLATFORM (1 — 99) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Penguins $105,000 114% 45 -15 $2,333 $7,612,753 7 Disney / Disneynature 2 Tolkien $42,000 -70% 94 -95 $447 $4,475,779 4 Fox Searchlight 3 India’s Most Wanted $25,000 -75% 80 -30 $313 $174,905 2 FIP 4 Faith, Hope & Love $620 -61% 2 0 $310 $208,082 12 ArtAffects Entertainment

Friday Update: Warner Bros. reports this morning that Godzilla: King of the Monsters bowed with $6.3 million from its first shows last night, setting the stage for what should should be a healthy domestic opening weekend. Last night’s take registered 10.5 percent more than Detective Pikachu ($5.7 million), 57.5 percent more than The Meg ($4.0 million), 70 percent more than Kong: Skull Island ($3.7 million), and 32 percent behind 2014’s Godzilla ($9.3 million).

Landing in second among the openers, Rocketman took the stage with $2.33 million in total pre-Friday earnings. That includes $580K from Fandango’s paid sneak previews on May 18, plus an additional $1.75 million from last night’s nationwide shows beginning at 7pm. Comp-wise, the combined figures are 40 percent behind Bohemian Rhapsody ($3.9 million), 49 percent behind A Star Is Born ($4.55 million), and 31.5 percent behind Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! ($3.4 million). With the target older audience, it remains to be seen how pre-Friday heavy the film’s initial rush will have been.

Meanwhile, Ma scored $1.4 million from 7pm shows in 2,400 locations last night. That registers 26 percent behind Don’t Breathe ($1.88 million) and 37 percent ahead of The Visit ($1.02 million).

Check out our pre-weekend forecast and analysis for all three new releases and Aladdin‘s holdover potential.

More updates to follow throughout the weekend…