'King Kong' Bombing Big Time at Box Office

[GullyFoyle]

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,178983,00.html

'King Kong' Bombing Big Time at Box Office

What's happened? Peter Jackson's "King Kong" — a three-hour, $300 million extravaganza that wowed advance screening audiences — is a catastrophe in the making.

On Thursday, Kong's take was a measly $6,295,755 — off $35.5 from Wednesday's weak $9,755,745 opening day. Kong ranks now as the 21st best Wednesday opening ever — a dubious distinction.

Something is certainly wrong. It could be the movie's daunting length, or even a slow middle section that would have benefited from cutting. The leads are all solid actors — Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black — but none of them is a star attraction. That might be the trouble, but I doubt it.

In fact, Kong seems like a no-brainer. Great special effects, and a main character — the ape — that is more three-dimensional than a lot of humans in movies this winter.

But there's some kind of snafu, and if Universal doesn't figure it out shortly, "King Kong" could turn into a king-sized headache.

One stumbling block to a bigger take may be that you simply cannot take young children to see this movie. It is way too intense. So my advice: get a sitter. Jackson's movie is a smart three-hour video game/fun house/theme park.

Meantime, Jim Mangold's "Walk the Line" — the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash — continues to hold its own and build a strong following. This terrific film is a sleeper — and Joaquin Phoenix's performance is not to be missed. At $78 million and change, "Walk the Line" is headed toward a $100 million crossover — and awards galore for everyone involved.

[dvdguy4]

The holidays are coming so that means more people will have some time off to go and see the movie. I personally will wait til the dvd release.

[Sabro]

WOW...someone is actually stating a movie is doing bad at the box office because it sucks, instead of blaming the bad turnout due to piracy (not that I condone piracy...stopping a flamefest before it starts!).

Actually I hoped it would do well cause the teasers looked pretty good...

Sabro

[RottenFoxBreath]

wonder if itll be a dvd extravaganza like the "special extended dvd version" of the 3 lotr movies.
hopefully theyll keep the DTS track in,cause the 5.1 ST blows donkey balls.

[GullyFoyle]

hopefully theyll keep the DTS track in,cause the 5.1 ST blows donkey balls.

I here that. I'm baffled as to why DTS is so popular in Asia with nearly every film having the choice between DTS and DD5.1, yet never embraced in the US?
DTS is much fuller and richer.

[kush]

Does this really surprise anyone? I saw this coming long ago - I mean come on - Peter Jackson?? This isn't the friggin' LOTR trilogy, you can't throw boatloads of money (my local Fox station said $207 mil to make but I digress), and some bog ol' render farm in NZ and expect an Academy Award winner...On something that's been done *3* times already.

Solid main actors? Adrien Brody sure, Naomi Watts, not sure, I haven't seen/know enough of her work..Jack Black no way. He should stick to stoner-loser-brother-comedy roles.

Then there's the whole issue about length - 3 hours?! No way...
a) Kong 1933 - 100 mins/104 (restored)
b) Kong 1976 - 134 mins
c) Kong 1986 - 105 mins (all via IMDB)..

what makes Universal think this re-re-rehash deserves yet another 53 mins over the closest runtime? Couldn't they have said what needed to be said within 1/2 that time (more like Kong I/III)?

In the end, some wankers @ the MPAA/Universal will blame the low tickets sales on piracy, not where it belongs - themselves for the ridiculous budget, awful release timing (come on right before Xmas??), insane length and over reliance on special "defects", etc, etc...It will end up on DVD within a month or two, and probably in the $9.99 bin a few after that.

Do I really care what happens to this movie? In the end not really - that's what a select few TV series and a DVD collection are for...

/rant - Sorry - gotta go begin my morning caffeine ritual.

[GullyFoyle]

Kush

It's all about the new graphics toys.
Instead of doing something like Discworld series or maybe that sexually charged Laurell Hamilton Vampire stuff they chose a nice safe remake.
You want to here real stupid?
The Farelly brothers intend to revive the THREE STOOGES!
Nothing original they could do.

[whitejremiah]

Peter Jackson, okay, yes he did the lord of the rings trilogy, but he made a TON of....well unless your a fan of B horror movies (i happen to be) bad horror movies......lets see here, we have bad taste, dead alive, meet the feebles.............i had a feeling that he would have something that would flop in the theaters.......and as far as going to the theater to see a 3 hour long movie....at least myself, not in this lifetime...i didn't see the lord of the rings movies in the theater even....i waited for the 4 disc sets on those........and yea, right now definately is not a good time to release a movie in the theaters.....people are too busy with xmas stuff to be bothered to go to the movies..that and the weather is crummy outside (generally speaking)I will be waiting for the dvd release on this one, and even at that, i may wait for a while after its on dvd before i watch it.....just to see if they make a 4 disc version of it.....

[mattso]

Peter Jackson, okay, yes he did the lord of the rings trilogy, but he made a TON of....well unless your a fan of B horror movies (i happen to be) bad horror movies......lets see here, we have bad taste, dead alive, meet the feebles.............

"Bad Taste" was his best movie! Nothing else came remotely close, IN MY HONEST OPINION.

[lordsmurf]

Nobody cares about opening week. The only thing that matters is opening weekend. Any good news outlet (meaning NOT FOX) would know this and not even waste reporting time on it, not yet. Next Tuesday or so is when you review how well it did.

[edDV]

I think the casting was all wrong. The beast texture should be played by Gollum.

[lacywest]

My thoughts ... I was feeling disappointed it was taking place back in the beginning ... like the first one done.

I did enjoy all the other versions as they came out.

Maybe I am feeling sorry for the Ape ... and I don't like how the movie ends.

I did feel sad for the Ape in the remake of the movie ... it seemed like his heart beated quite awhile before it ............. stopped. And all those helicopters shooting those machine guns at him ... tearing him up inside ... it was very intense ... and Godzilla 2000 ... I want them to live ... not get killed ... geez ... oh man !!!

But if my wife and I have time ... I'm sure we will go see the movie ... I hope they have intermission ... 3 hours is quite a long time to hold it ... but in the other hand ... I did wait 4 hours on Black Friday to walk away with one of those $378 bucks ... HP laptop computers.

[raffie]

^^actually the same guy did the movements.

[pinetop]

Nobody cares about opening week. The only thing that matters is opening weekend. Any good news outlet (meaning NOT FOX) would know this and not even waste reporting time on it, not yet. Next Tuesday or so is when you review how well it did.

LS,

Are you even bias against news networks ?
I've heard the same report on ABC AM radio, MSNBC, and my local independent TV news. Who cares if the author of the article writes for FOX ?

King Kong is performing poorly its a fact !

[adam]

Compared to other Wednesday releases, no its not going so good but mostly because it was such an expensive film. If it weren't supposed to be such a blockbuster than 21st wouldn't be that bad at all.

But the fact is that Wed. releases typically only earn 25% of the first week earnings during the week (wed, thurs, fri) and 75% during the weekend. Any article published today is just jumping the gun regardless of who is publishing it.

Check back on mon or tues and then we'll probably be able to safely say that Kong is somewhat of a bomb, unless things really pick up. This movie seems to me to be one that would sell well on DVD though.

[lordsmurf]

LS, Are you even bias against news networks ?
I've heard the same report on ABC AM radio, MSNBC, and my local independent TV news. Who cares if the author of the article writes for FOX ? King Kong is performing poorly its a fact !

Then ABC AM radio and MSNBC are doing a shitty job too. The proper time to review the money earned by a movie is after the full weekend tallies have come in, not before.

[paulw]

I haven't seen it yet. I'll wait until after Xmas. Too many other things to doat present as suspect lots of other people will..

[gadgetguy]

I'll probably wait to see it until it comes on USA or TBS or etc. There's nothing I've seen in the ads or reviews that makes it appealing to me.

[GullyFoyle]

Part of it may be it isn't living up to the hype. NY had a King Kong lottery specially done starting at $50 million. By drawing time it was only $53 million.
Kind of a let down there.

[Jester700]

Just saw it. Big Kong fan. Actually, big animated monster movie fan - dug all those Harryhausen flicks.

So. Too long. Too much backstory for peripheral characters. Jack Black was annoying - wrong vehicle for him. Too much "look what CGI can do" over-the-top FX. The FX pieces were generally too long and TOO over the top. Denim was portrayed as a real assmuncher, too, which wasn't necessary.

BUT. You gotta see it for the ape. Best Kong ever done, and the best Kong-blonde chickie relationship ever done. Sirkus/Kong is a better role than most of the principals in the flick. And really, it's the first remake. There was no DeLorentis flick in the 70's, that was just a bad dream I had...

[jagabo]

BUT. You gotta see it for the ape.

I'm not gonna pay $10 to see an animated monkey. I can watch the Phonics Monkey in South Park for free.

[Tom81]

Look at the original, no comparison as for as the casting goes.

[Super Warrior]

'King Kong' Bombing Big Time at Box Office

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,178983,00.html

I dunno about you guys but i never gave a damn about the new king kong movie.....

[smearbrick1]

'King Kong' Bombing Big Time at Box Office

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,178983,00.html

I dunno about you guys but i never gave a damn about the new king kong movie.....

I never gave a damn about King Kong period. I could care less about a species-confused, overgrown, under-sexed, hormonal gorilla. It just doesn't do it for me.

[Jester700]

BUT. You gotta see it for the ape.

I'm not gonna pay $10 to see an animated monkey. I can watch the Phonics Monkey in South Park for free.

OK. "you gotta see it if you want to see how expressive CGI has become". Technologically, it's pretty impressive. Some FX scenes try to impress with just how MUCH you can do in a CGI shot, but they fall flat compared to just the realism of the monkey.

It's an old story, we all know it, etc., etc. This isn't a film for everyone. It's for old school monster movie nuts who want to see what CGI can do in the hands of an old school monster movie nut.

[Faustus]

Could have sworn I had posted in this thread already... but isn't it a little soon to start judging a movie before it opening weekend is even over?

edit: Ah that was in the OTHER king kong thread.

[zzyzzx]

I also think Hollywood needs to come up with some original idea. How about making that Fartman movie?

[shelbyGT]

LS, Are you even bias against news networks ?
I've heard the same report on ABC AM radio, MSNBC, and my local independent TV news. Who cares if the author of the article writes for FOX ? King Kong is performing poorly its a fact !

Then ABC AM radio and MSNBC are doing a shitty job too. The proper time to review the money earned by a movie is after the full weekend tallies have come in, not before.

I disagree with the point you're trying to push forward. Sure, weekend totals mean some more than a Wednesday opening. However there were multiple factors that made the Wednesday opening worthwhile:
-Hollywood is down right now. We all know it. This is just yet ANOTHER example in a long line of movies that has done poorly. At over 300 million to make and raking in such dismal numbers, it's embarrassing for them.
-The hype. We all heard about how "great" this movie is before it was released. The build up was there but now nobody cares. So far, it doesn't seem to be panning out.
-This was supposed to be the money maker for the movie industry. A chance to get some back on their feet, so to speak. Alledgedly this movie was the end of the bombers. Oops... maybe not.

So yes, I'm more interested in seeing how they did as far as weekend ticket sales but the fact that all these news outlets are reporting about opening day ticket sales is NOT bad reporting. But reply with your short, curt answer and we'll all be on our way. And anyway, if it was an AP or Reuters feed, most of these news outlets are just carrying what the new headline is, nothing more.

[sullen]

Two words: The Hulk

[Faustus]

I also think Hollywood needs to come up with some original idea. How about making that Fartman movie?

I'd prefer movies worth seeing myself. 8)