When the Monsterverse versions of Godzilla and King Kong crossed over in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, it was inevitable that the two beasts would link up again. Surprisingly, that ended up being the immediate next movie in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (which doesn’t sound how it’s titled), which sets the two up as allies instead of two dudes beating the crap out of each other. And how does it stack up as the fifth entry in the series?

Like Godzilla: King of the Monsters before it, New Empire has a mixed reception in the critical circles. As with earlier movies, the human cast aren’t much to write home about, and so much of this is just a lot of setup for the monster fights. But as always, the two Titans are really impressive, both visually and in terms of the sheer spectacle of. It also helps that, as director Adam Wingard’s previously talked about, much of the movie focuses on Kong and Godzilla having wordless, human-free arcs of their own for several stretches of time.

Audiences seem to be more onboard with Empire than critics. At time of writing, it’s made $80 million in the US, significantly higher than its initial $45-55 million projections. With $194 million worldwide (at time of writing), it’s helped the franchise cross $2 billion at the box office and is said to be the fifth-biggest Easter opening ever. Folks have really taken a shine to this series, and it probably doesn’t hurt that Godzilla Minus One sparked some interest in the radioactive lizard from anyone previously uninterested.

For this weekend’s Open Channel, we want to know what you thought about New Empire. How’s it stack up to the earlier movies, and what do you want out of the MonsterVerse next? Let us know in the comments below.

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