“Nobody” is good news for Universal, which acquired the film from STX for about $10 million. The film’s A- Cinemascore is particularly strong for its genre and may suggest staying power that could bleed over to its likely Premium VOD debut in about three weeks. It benefits from New York and Los Angeles theater openings; perhaps an even greater benefit for the low-budget title is it had virtually no competition. A more meaningful test for “Nobody,” and for the industry, comes Wednesday with “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the year’s first five-day opening for a holiday weekend. It’s the kind of highly anticipated, seat-shaking spectacle that’s designed to draw audiences out of their homes and into the theaters; it will also be available at home for HBO Max subscribers. There are so many permutations as to how that performance could play out, and none of them are business as usual.

This weekend, Legendary’s monster mashup opened in 38 territories (non-European, except for Russia) to $122 million, with China contributing $70 million of that. Mexico and Australia were next best with each around $6.3 million. As a gauge of the film’s appeal: Australia has about seven percent of the combined U.S./Canada population, and minimal COVID-19 impact or restrictions. That makes its gross the per-capita equivalent of $90 million. (Its release also doesn’t compete with HBO Max.) Holdovers in the top five, which represent the remaining films that grossed over $1 million, all dropped 30-40 percent. That seems excessive when there’s potential for audience growth and only one new wide release. The Indian Telugu language rom-com “Rang de” may have sneaked into the top 10. No gross was reported, but some industry estimates showed up to $250,000 in 127 theaters. In any event, it had a PTA of around $2,000. A24 Among Oscar titles showing in theaters in 600 theaters or more, only “Minari” grossed more than $165,000, and dropped 30 percent. “The Father” added Premium VOD this weekend, become the final top nominee to have parallel access for viewers.   The Top 10