“Second weekend in a row”: Mortal Kombat & Demon Slayer soaring box office earnings amid pandemic has the internet in a meltdown

Mortal Kombat, a reboot of the classic video game, and the funimation-made film "Demon Slayer" are both competing for first spot at the box office. Both films are faring way better in the second weekend, especially amid a recovering pandemic in the U.S. and other regions.

Mortal Kombat raked in $23.3 million on the opening weekend. Surprisingly, "Demon Slayer," due to its popularity from the ongoing anime, was able to stack up with an estimated $21.1 million earning on the first week. Both titles exceeded their expectations on Sunday.

The earning numbers weren’t big for week 2 as Deadline reports that "Mortal Kombat" and "Demon Slayer" will finish this weekend at $6.1M each. Moviegoers were treated to a convincing rebound reward to encourage movie watching in theaters as many fans decided to watch "Mortal Kombat" and "Demon Slayer" together.

Reactions have been outstanding, with both fandoms supporting the films' performances.

Demon Slayer inches closer to top U.S. box office as foreign film

Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer going to be neck-and-neck for the second weekend in a row. The winners, of course, are WB, Sony, old-school gamers, and anime fans.

— Jeff Harris (@nemalki) May 1, 2021

News that we're watching today: In its 2nd weekend, "Demon Slayer" is currently neck and neck with "Mortal Kombat" at the US box office. If it pulls off #1, it would be the first time anime has topped the US box office since, we think, "Pokemon: The First Movie" back in 1999. pic.twitter.com/UGEN3uLl43

— cartoonbrew.com - Animation News (@cartoonbrew) May 2, 2021

Y’all really tryna compare a cartoon to mortal kombat 😬 https://t.co/tX657JHwAq

— Safemoon Gordy (@gordysalinas50) May 1, 2021

#MortalKombatMovie saw a massive 80% drop on its 2nd FRI at domestic #BoxOffice, grossing estimated 1.8M.#MortalKombat’s cume in the US stands at 29.7M. #DemonSlayer FRI numbers are not out yet but it’s possible that DS overcame MK total on FRI already. No one saw that coming. pic.twitter.com/FhGk4hcAOX

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) May 1, 2021

idk new demon slayer movie? or mortal kombat

— Assault Cazmuh 👑 (@cazmuhfn) May 2, 2021

The US Box Office rebounding with ‘Demon Slayer’ and ‘Mortal Kombat’ blowing away their opening weekend expectations pic.twitter.com/1jOf0fq8oh

— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) April 25, 2021

Watched demon slayer FKN LOVED it such a fkn Rollercoaster didn't get to watch mortal kombat I will tomorrow https://t.co/Su7DGf9EQJ

— #SithLionheart (@Knglionheart1) May 2, 2021

Having Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer playing in theaters at the same time results in a majority nerd movie theater population and it's lovely pic.twitter.com/RKBl74q6GM

— 🌸 dani 💉 protected by pfizer 🌸 (@matronedea) May 2, 2021

Going to watch mortal kombat and demon slayer tn pic.twitter.com/ac0SZSBeyk

— #SithLionheart (@Knglionheart1) May 1, 2021

Mortal Kombat today Demon Slayer tomorrow

— Lan Fan🥀🌹🎓 (@Ton__Major) May 1, 2021

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train has made over $21 million & is #1 foreign language film debut in U.S. box office history. Do you understand? Mugen Train is competing with other movies like Mortal Kombat and Kong vs Godzilla, definitely a huge win for the Anime Community. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Fu1ATg8g7P

— Empress Temi-Roronoa!!!🖤👑 (@patramills) April 26, 2021

still from Demon Slayer trailer/Image via Youtube Funimation

Earlier, Godzilla vs. Kong was touted for its pandemic opening weekend record with $31 million in earnings. Both "Mortal Kombat" and "Demon Slayer" have surpassed the kaiju film’s numbers in North America’s first week earnings. It’s fair to say that Warner Bros. has emerged as the bigger winner.

Currently, “Demon Slayer” has the chance to become the first anime title to be at the top of the US box office since “Pokemon: The First Movie," released in 1999. Whether Mortal Kombat fans will continue to go to movie theaters to watch the reboot video game feature is yet to be seen.

Interestingly, both titles share the same grounds as R-rated flicks and were surprisingly strong at the box office.