'King Kong' holds slim lead at holiday box office

[BENDIS!]

'King Kong' holds slim lead at holiday box office By Dean Goodman
Mon Dec 26, 2:12 PM ET



LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "King Kong" reigned at the North American box office for a second weekend on Monday, leading a busy field of Christmas newcomers and expansions even as overall ticket sales fell.

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Director Peter Jackson's big ape remake sold an estimated $31.4 million worth of tickets in the four days beginning Friday, taking its total to a modest $118.7 million after 12 days.

Because of the holiday season, movie industry observers are still not certain how to classify the performance of Universal Pictures' $207 million movie. After a slow start, it picked up steam last weekend, but was surpassed in subsequent days by the weekend's No. 2 movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

"It is forging its own pattern of performance, but it is doing sizable business every day," said Marc Shmuger, Vice Chairman of the General Electric Co.-controlled studio.

Despite the imprimatur of Jackson, the Oscar-winning director of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, "King Kong" has been handicapped by its three-hour running time and the fact that it is not based on a popular literary property.

Walt Disney Co.'s "Narnia" film, a similarly effects-laden enterprise with the added bonus of being based on the book by C.S. Lewis, held at No. 2 with $30.1 million, taking its total after 17 days to $163.5 million.

CARREY, MARTIN VIE FOR LAUGHS

Two newcomers that opened on Wednesday grabbed the next two places: the Jim Carrey comedy remake "Fun with Dick & Jane" with $23.5 million for the four days, and the Steve Martin family comedy sequel "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" with $14.8 million. Their respective totals stand at $31.1 million and $20.1 million.

The family comedy drama "The Family Stone," starring Diane Keaton, fell two places to No. 5 with $10.9 million, taking its total to $30.1 million after 10 days.

Overall sales fell, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 films tallied $101.8 million for the three days beginning Friday, down 14 percent from the year-ago period, when Christmas fell on a Saturday and "Meet the Fockers" led the pack with a $46.1 million opening.

Among the expansions this weekend was the period adaptation "Memoirs of a Geisha," which rose six places to No. 6 with a solid $10.2 million in its third weekend.

The Special Olympics comedy "The Ringer," starring Johnny Knoxville, opened at No. 7 with $8.4 million for the four days since Friday. Two movies that opened on Sunday grabbed the next two places: the Jennifer Aniston comedy "Rumor Has It..." with $7.5 million and the horror film "Wolf Creek" with $5.9 million. " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" rounded out the top tier, falling six places to No. 10 with $5.7 million.

Also new was Steven Spielberg's revenge saga "Munich," set in the aftermath of the 1972 Olympics massacre. The Universal Pictures release opened at No. 11 with $5.7 million from just 572 theaters, about $20,000 behind "Harry Potter." Rankings could change when final data are issued on Tuesday. "Munich" opens nationwide on January 6.

"Fun with Dick & Jane" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" were released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" and "The Family Stone" were released by Twentieth Century Fox, and "The Ringer" by Fox Searchlight Pictures, both units of News Corp.

"Rumor Has It..." and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" were released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc. "Wolf Creek" was released by the Weinstein Co., a privately held company led by former Miramax Films chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

[who cares?]

your average north american cant stand to watch a 3 hour+ movie and that's sad......

[Taxman]

your average north american cant stand to watch a 3 hour+ movie and that's sad......

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/business

[M. Sean McManus]

your average north american cant stand to watch a 3 hour+ movie and that's sad......

Wasting more than 2 hours of your life on a monster movie, now that's sad.

"King Kong" has been handicapped by its three-hour running time and the fact that it is not based on a popular literary property.

That, and maybe it's just a bad movie.

I want to see a King Kong made by Genndy Tartakovsky. That sure as heck wouldn't be three hours long. I also want to say that biplanes rule.

[DungeonMasterJim]

has been handicapped by ... the fact that it is not based on a popular literary property.

That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.


DM Jim

[Kefky]

That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.


DM Jim

Why? Sounds accurate to me...

[Ray G.]

Guess the Christians are really out in force for Narnia. I can't imagine why Kong is doing so weakly, though. Guess we'll see how it does in the upcoming weeks, when no new major movies come out.

[Tom Burgos]

It says a lot about our "blockbuster or else" culture that a film that grosses 118 million in 12 days is considered to be doing "weak" business...

[Ray G.]

It says a lot about our "blockbuster or else" culture that a film that grosses 118 million in 12 days is considered to be doing "weak" business...

Well, when it costs $250 million......

[Cth]

It says a lot about our "blockbuster or else" culture that a film that grosses 118 million in 12 days is considered to be doing "weak" business...

Maybe you don't remember when HULK hit theaters.

It was a Universal film also. Universal just doesn't know how to market monster films these days or reign in directors.

PS - 118 in 13 days (Kong)

PPS - It's not weak business, but performing WAY under expectations.