Box Office: ‘Godzilla’ Tracking for $50M Debut, ‘Rocketman’ to Blast Off With $25M

Elton John is gearing up for his box office debut, while Hollywood veteran Godzilla is readying for another round at the multiplex.

Rocketman, the musical biopic about pop superstar John, is tracking for a solid $20 million opening, according to those with access to early tracking surveys, with some estimating the movie could reach closer to $25 million.

Led by Taron Egerton, Rocketman follows the “Bennie and the Jets” singer’s rise to stardom and history with substance abuse. Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden and Jamie Bell also star. It will debut at Cannes before a May 31 North American bow.

Fox’s Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody pulled in $50 million in its opening weekend. That movie, also directed by Dexter Fletcher (at least, in part), went on to gross $216.4 million in North America and $902.6 million globally.

Also bowing May 31 is Legendary and Warner Bros.’ Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The third film in the studios’ MonsterVerse is looking at a debut in the low $50 million range, according to early tracking. But that number could easily increase once a final marketing push is made.

Michael Dougherty’s King of the Monsters, which stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown, sees the infamous Kaiju collide with Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah.

The first film in the monster-movie series was 2014’s Godzilla from Gareth Edwards, which opened to a massive $93.2 million (unadjusted for inflation), and was followed by 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, which debuted to $61 million (unadjusted).

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