A couple of legendary monsters are bringing the box office back to life. Godzilla Vs Kong raked in $9.6 million on its opening day in theaters, which is the best opening day for any movie since theaters closed in the U.S., and throughout much of the world, in March of 2020. This is an exceptionally good sign for movie theaters, studios and people who are eager to get back to the theatrical experience. The question now becomes, how much will the blockbuster rake in over its five-day opening frame?

Godzilla vs. Kong opened Wednesday to get a jump on the Easter weekend. Playing in 2,409 theaters, it averaged just shy of $4,000 per location. That would be quite good by normal standards, but it is downright excellent by pandemic standards. The movie is also set to have the widest opening since theaters initially closed last year, with director Adam Wingard's entry in the MonsterVerse expected to ultimately play on around 3,000 screens in North America. Analysts had expected it could make between $20 and $30 million in its domestic debut through its first five days. With the strong Wednesday numbers, it could easily top that.

The box office numbers are made all the more encouraging when one considers that Warner Bros. and Legendary's big-budget monster beatdown is currently available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S. Warner Bros. is doing this with all of its movies in 2020, with Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Tom & Jerry already taking the same hybrid route. That being the case, it further demonstrates that people are ready to get back to the movies as health and safety concerns slowly recede.

Word of mouth looks to benefit this movie greatly. It currently sits at a 79 percent critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, to go with a stellar 95 percent audience rating. That is the best of any MonsterVerse movie to date. It also beat 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Kong: Skull Island and 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, nabbing an A Cinemascore. This is a crowd-pleaser through and through.

It is also important to note that Godzilla vs. Kong has had a tremendous showing in overseas movie theaters so far. It earned more than $70 million on its opening weekend in China and has raked in more than $123 million overseas so far. Coupled with what looks to be a great opening weekend in North America, it should be able to easily clear the $200 million global mark come Monday. Considering King of the Monsters earned $386 million worldwide during its entire run with a full, global release, that is pretty impressive.

The cast includes Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, Alexander Skarsgard, Rebecca Hall, Demian Bichir, Julian Dennison, Brian Tyree Henry and Eiza Gonzales. Meanwhile, Adam Wingard has already lined up two big projects as follow-ups. It was recently announced that Wingard will direct a Thundercats movie, in addition to Face/Off 2, which he's developing. This news was previously reported by Deadline.