{"id":93675,"date":"2017-03-12T22:03:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T02:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=93675"},"modified":"2017-03-12T22:03:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T02:03:39","slug":"kong-outmuscles-logan-to-become-king-of-the-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/12\/kong-outmuscles-logan-to-become-king-of-the-box-office\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Kong’ outmuscles ‘Logan’ to become king of the box office"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"According<\/a>
According to studio estimates Sunday, \u201cKong: Skull Island\u201d amassed $61 million in its first weekend in theatres, surpassing expectations and easily beating out \u201cLogan,\u201d which is now in its second weekend. (Photo: Kong: Skull Island\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2013It was a battle of the beasts at the box office this weekend, and King Kong emerged as the definitive victor over Wolverine.<\/p>\n

According to studio estimates Sunday, \u201cKong: Skull Island\u201d amassed $61 million in its first weekend in theatres, surpassing expectations and easily beating out \u201cLogan,\u201d which is now in its second weekend.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. and Legendary’s \u201cKong: Skull Island\u201d stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s the second in the planned \u201cmonster universe\u201d following the latest \u201cGodzilla,\u201d which grossed $529.1 million worldwide in 2014.<\/p>\n

Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ head of domestic distribution, said the weekend \u201cfar exceeded everyone’s expectations,\u201d and he predicts Monday actuals might come in higher than the estimated $61 million. The film, which earned a B CinemaScore overall, was graded stronger by younger audiences, many of whom will have extra days off soon for spring break.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of mouth is really kicking in,\u201d Goldstein said.<\/p>\n

Costing a reported $185 million to produce, \u201cKong\u201d still has work to be done, however, to reach profitability, and much of that will depend on international earnings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a solid weekend. But they’re going to be looking for a half-billion worldwide to make it a certifiable hit,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore.<\/p>\n

Fox’s \u201cLogan\u201d took second place, down around 58 per cent from its first weekend with $37.9 million. The R-rated pic, which sees Hugh Jackman reprising his role as the X-Men character Wolverine, has earned $152.7 million in total.<\/p>\n

In third place, \u201cGet Out,\u201d the buzzy horror film directed by Jordan Peele, added $21.1 million, pushing its sum to $111 million in just three weeks.<\/p>\n

With a price tag of only $4.5 million, the movie is a certifiable hit for Blumhouse and Universal and continues to remain prominently in the conversation up against films with much larger production and marketing budgets behind them.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the top five were the faith-based movie \u201cThe Shack,\u201d with $10.1 million, and \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d with $7.8 million.<\/p>\n

The strong weekend nudged the year to date out of the red, too, and even at this early date, Dergarabedian thinks the box office might be headed for yet another record year based on the number of releases.<\/p>\n

Next week shows no sign of slowing, either, with Disney’s \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d poised to earn well over $100 million out of the gate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a March of beasts for sure,\u201d said Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

1.\u201dKong: Skull Island,\u201d $61 million.<\/p>\n

2.\u201dLogan,\u201d $37.9 million.<\/p>\n

3.\u201dGet Out,\u201d $21.1 million.<\/p>\n

4.\u201dThe Shack,\u201d $10.1 million.<\/p>\n

5.\u201dThe Lego Batman Movie,\u201d $7.8 million.<\/p>\n

6.\u201dBefore I Fall,\u201d $3.1 million.<\/p>\n

7.\u201dHidden Figures,\u201d $2.8 million.<\/p>\n

8.\u201dJohn Wick: Chapter Two,\u201d $2.7 million.<\/p>\n

9.\u201dMET Opera: La Traviata,\u201d $1.8 million.<\/p>\n

10.\u201dLa La Land,\u201d $1.8 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013It was a battle of the beasts at the box office this weekend, and King Kong emerged as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":93676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[1736,16033,798],"class_list":["post-93675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-kong","tag-logan","tag-movies","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}