‘Kong: Skull Island’ rules with mighty US$61m debut
LOS ANGELES: ‘ Kong: Skull Island' emerged victorious after a battle of the beasts that pitted the giant ape movie against the Wolverine's last stand. Cresting a wave of good reviews, ‘ Kong: Skull Island' topped the domestic box office, racking up a mighty US$ 61 million. That handily beat estimates, which had ‘ Kong: Skull Island' debuting to between US$ 45 million and US$ 50 million.
King Kong's roar didn't totally drown out Wolverine's berserker rage. In its second weekend, Fox's ‘ Logan' dropped 58% to US$ 37.8 million, pushing its stateside total to US$ 152.6 million. The R-rated comic book adventure is Hugh Jackman's swan song as Wolverine after nearly two decades playing the X-Men team member.
‘ Kong: Skull Island' gets bragging rights for topping expectations, but the film isn't out of the woods yet. It cost a hefty US$ 185 million to produce, which means that it will need to be a hit overseas if Legendary and Warner Bros., the studios behind the film, want to make a profit. On the domestic front, ‘ Kong: Skull Island' is also staring down Disney's ‘Beauty and the Beast', a live-action fairy tale that is expected to premiere to as much as US$ 120 million next weekend. That will likely suck up most of the oxygen in the multiplexes, making it difficult for other films to keep drawing in big crowds.
Legendary and Warner Bros. have grand ambitions for King Kong. The film is the second instalment in a planned monster franchise. The first chapter, 2014's ‘Godzilla', opened to US$ 93.2 million in the States before topping out at US$ 529.1 million globally. The plan is for King Kong and Godzilla to meet in an epic showdown of primordial creatures at some point in the not-too- distant future.
“The movie is pure fun and that's translating into the box office,” said Jeff Goldstein, domestic distribution chief at Warner Bros. He went on to predict that the film would benefit from rolling spring breaks that will see more than 20% of the nation's schoolchildren on vacation and looking for something to occupy their time. The opening weekend crowd for the film was 56% male and 35% under the age of 25. Imax showings accounted for US$ 7.5 million worth of ticket sales.
Because of its massive production and marketing costs, ‘ Kong: Skull Island' will need to do roughly US$ 500 million worldwide to be considered a success. To that end, the film debuted to US$ 81.6 million in 65 foreign markets. A lot is riding on how the movie performs in China, the world's second-largest film market. ‘Kong: Skull Island' opens in the Middle Kingdom in two weeks.
Set in the waning days of the Vietnam War, ‘ Kong: Skull Island' exchanges embassy helicopter rescues for oversized primates looming large against a fog- encrusted jungle setting. Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who made a splash with the Sundance favourite “Kings of Summer”, directed the picture, with Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Brie Larson heading up an ensemble cast. Critics embraced the decision to give an ‘Apocalypse, Now' sheen to the oft-filmed story of King Kong, with Variety's Owen Gleiberman hailing it as “a rousing and smart ly crafted primordial be as tie spectacular .”
With Wolvie and Kong duking it out for the top slot, Blumhouse and Universal's ‘Get Out' snagged third place. The lowbudget thriller about a black man whose visit to his white girlfriend's hometown takes a sinister turn picked up $ US21.1 million. It has earned US$ 111 million in three weeks of release -- a fantastic return on its US$ 4.5 million budget.
The top five was rounded out by Lionsgate's ‘ The Shack' and Warner Bros.' ‘ The Lego Batman Movie', which earned US$ 10.1 million and US$ 7.8 million, respectively. ‘ The Shack', a faith-based drama, has grossed UD$ 32.3 million in two weeks of release. The latest Lego movie has earned US$ 159 million after five weeks in theatres.
Among limited releases, CBS Films' ‘ The Sense of an Ending', an adaptation of Julian Barnes' prize-winning novel, opened to US$ 42,000 from four locations, while Focus World's ‘ Raw', a horror film about a vegetarian student who turns to cannibalism, debuted to US$ 25,230 from two theatres.
Ticket sales were up nearly 25% from the same weekend in 2016 -- a period that overlapped with the second weekend of ‘ Zootopia' and the debut of ‘10 Cloverfield Lane'. Revenues are up roughly 2% year-to- date, as the combination of ‘ Logan', ‘Get Out',” and now ‘ Kong: Skull Island' are translating into a busy time at the box office. Next weekend brings the release of ‘Beauty and the Beast', which should expand 2017's lead.
“This could be the biggest March on record,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “You don't have to wait until May to release blockbusters any more.”