The Kong is dead...

at least on opening day.

Peter Jackson's "King Kong" (2005) opened to $9.8 mil. I remember hordes of Jackson acolytes lamenting the fact that, after "LOTR 3", there wouldn't be any more December Jackson movies. Well, Jackson gave his fans their wish, but only a handful of people opened their present.

Before anyone tells me that box-office gross shouldn't matter and that only the quality of a movie counts, let me remind you that people have to see these kinds of mega-budget movies for them to be greenlighted in the first place.

All I'm hearing from people is "I had no idea it opened yesterday!"

I'll bet Kong still blows out the roof over the 5-day weekend.

I agree with Chris.

I'm interested in seeing how much of a tear-jerker this film will be.

There's no way people didn't know that the movie opened already. The trailers have been everywhere, the marketing has been everywhere, and the reviews--the vast majority of them positive--were everywhere on opening day. The 1933 and 1976 versions were released on DVD a few weeks ago.

Something odd happened. I'm not a fan of Peter Jackson, but I expected $15-$20 mil (and that was a low guestimate!).

eh, Eddie, the weekend is not over yet. I don't feel the film had an overwheling advetizemnt for being released early but the big weekend my prove you wrong; so let's just see what happens.

Tim,

I didn't make any predictions about the weekend. I merely commented that the first day gross fell short of expectations. Look around the Internet--EVERYONE is wondering what happened.

Eddie

The "LOTR" movies were also released on non-holiday Wednesdays.

The movie cost $207 million, with prints and advertising costs running between $40 and $80 million.

$200 million domestic would be disappointing (ala "Godzilla" (1998 )).

[Post edited by posters5 on Dec 17, 2005]

"It is only after 70mins we see Mr Gaint Kong"

Isn't that how it is in the original as well, maybe not 70 minutes, but it's not Kong smashing stuff as soon as the movie begins.

It's a non-holiday Wednesday opening. Don't be beating your chest just yet. This weekend will be huge, and this will make a lot of money in the next couple of weeks. The week between Christmas and New Year's is one of the most popular vacation weeks of the year. Kong will have a long theatrical run, ending up will $200 domestic box office.

You also have to remember big action movies are the biggest things in foreign markets. Kong will be a monster hit all over the world.

Depression -

I used my point about first 70mins to indicate that the journey leading up unveiling Mr. Kong might not be worth after all. This can be due to irrelevant stuff, erratic acting etc. I am not looking for King Kong to smash things around.

Eddie -

Right on! Then I guess that this movie should make over $300 million to be profitable. I guess I don't see that happening:)

--Ranjan