'Mortal Kombat' And 'Demon Slayer' Fight For Weekend Box Office Lead

"Mortal Kombat" and "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" are battling for the top spot at U.S. box offices.

What Happened: The two releases had a combined opening day tally of $18.5 million on Friday, Variety reports, and come after AT&T Inc T subsidiary Warner Bros. set a new pandemic-era record with its "Godzilla vs. Kong" debut in the first week of April.

Warner Bros.' latest release, "Mortal Kombat," earned $9.03 million from 3,073 locations on opening day Friday. The R-rated movie is headed towards an opening weekend of $18 million to $19 million.

"Mortal Kombat," based on the ultraviolent fighting game series, was produced on a $55 million budget. It is being released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" from Funimation, a company in Sony Corp's SONY stable, earned $9.5 million from 1,598 locations on Friday. The anime film is estimated for a $20 million opening.

Before htting the U.S., "Demon Slayer" was a pandemic-era hit in Japan, where it brought in $400 million.

The original 26-episode anime series "Demon Slayer" was produced by Japanese animation studio Ufotable and was released on Netflix Inc's NFLX service shortly after the COVID-19 lockdowns in Japan.

Warner Bros. aims to release films both on streaming service and in theaters in 2021.

“Godzilla vs. Kong" came in third on Friday with just over $1.1 million. The film has earned $83.5 million over its first four weeks.

Walt Disney Co’s DIS "Raya and the Last Dragon" earned $400,000 on Friday. Its U.S. box office total stands at $38.6 million after eight weeks.

Pandemic-Era Releases: Here are the top weekends for films released since March 2020:

The top U.S. opening weekends for films after March 2020 are:

• "Godzilla vs. Kong" with $48.1 million
• "Tenet" with $20 million
• "Wonder Woman 1984" with $16.7 million
• "The Croods: A New Age" with $14.3 million
• "Tom & Jerry" with $14.1 million
• "Demon Slayer" with $9.5 million
• "Mortal Kombat with $9 million
• "Raya and the Last Dragon" with $8.5 million
• "The New Mutants" with $7 million
• "Nobody" with $6.8 million

Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures International.