Estimates for Friday, December, 16, 2005

Title Daily Total
KING KONG 14.4 30.4
CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, THE 9.0 90.2
FAMILY STONE 4.1 4.1
SYRIANA 1.6 18.5
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE 1.5 248.1
WALK THE LINE 1.0 79.9
YOURS, MINE & OURS 1.0 42.6
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN .7 1.7
JUST FRIENDS .7 28.1
AEON FLUX .5 22.0

- After bringing in a tame 16.8 million during it's first two days of release, industry optimism was high for the $207 million King Kong, Peter Jackson's latest manifestation intended to save the box office much like 'Narnia' did last weekend. So what the hell happened? With another lukewarm figure, this time on the opening day of the weekend, Kong is looking to serve up less than 50 million and an extremely, not so-LOTR like, 66-68 million for the 5-day. Although these seem like good figures, many were hoping it could reach the heights of at least the first Lord Of The Rings movies, but it couldn't even do that. This has certainly left the industry dumbfounded, who are continuing to be optimistic and are hoping that rave reviews, solid word of mouth, and a bit of Oscar buzz can make it a durable player throughout the holiday season.

- Narnia drops 48% but should see better holds on Sat-Sun. The drop from weekend to weekend could be in the 41-43% range.

- Debuting well was the ensemble comedy 'The Family Stone', which stars Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, and one of 2005's breakthrough actresses Rachel McAdams. Exceeding past industry expectations who had it pegged at 9-10 million, the film could score a solid 13-15 million and show considerable legs throughout the holidays.

- 'Brokeback Mountain' continues it's cinderella run. It expanded into 69 theatres this weekend after it's majestical 109k PTA in just 5 last weekend. Off the strength of 7 globe nods and numerous accolades, the film is top 10 and could see another red-hot, scorching PTA in the range of 40-45k.

The King Kong story never appealed to me so I guess i'm not the only one. I hope the Chronicles of Narnia crashes soon. The first film may have done well but I don't know if it has the steam for 7 movies.

And I have not see it yet. I have to wait til January 6th.

I'm not interested in Kong either...I don't really know why. I loved Jurassic park and it really should be similar interest wise. Kong should do really well worldwide though and forsure cover it's budget and all that.

I love the 1933 King Kong w/ Fay Wray. It's an amazing film and what I love about it the most is it *mistakenly* shows how humans had no feelings, remorse, or (in casual form) didn't give a **** about something foreign to them (Kong), including the main character, Ann Darrow (played by Wray). Other then the social concerns that are addressed here, the action scenes in the '33 version are surprisingly better than the '79 version, which starred Jessica Lange in what I think was her first role (a good performance as well).

Anyway, I'm really hoping that this new adaption of the masterpice known as KING KONG does become a gigantic blockbuster hit. I'm tired of annoying cult films; with corny ass mystical/adventure storylines such as Potter, Wars, Rings, etc.; that (dare I say it) lack originality and are all a bunch of yawns; ruling the box-office.

wtf?? only 17 million? hahahahaha thats funny .... when is hollywood gonna realize that big blockbuster movies suck ass.....???

That is definitely surprising. How well did Godzilla do a few years back? Personally I thought this looked like a really good remake with more truth and surrounding detail than the 1979 version did (thanks for the dates Uncle Brian ) - and Jeff Bridges kinda ruined the ending in that for me... It is more like the 1933 one but updated with modern technology not least to say, colour, which many people prefer now (I like both B&W and colour myself). Both of those are truer to the story, although I did enjoy the 1979 one and tend to watch it whenever it comes on. I'm looking forward to seeing it later this week or after Xmas. I don't generally watch modern blockbuster remakes, but this one had something that appealed to me when I saw the trailer, a kind of gripping atmosphere and the facial expressions of Kong itself I think. I like how it's possible to convey more emotion through non human (using a human face though) characters and feel what they're going through. Also, even though it's fictional and glamorous, there's a sense of cold, hard reality to it about it, I can't put my finger on it just yet.

Perhaps it's international sales added to these will show how it's doing more reflectively.

EDIT - there was another film based on King Kong in the 90's but I can't remember the name of it, I only remember the adverts for it, he wasn't as big and was gentle in general; he wasn't called Ben by any chance?

I knew it wasnt gonna do so well cuz the buzz wasnt THAT good and all u saw on the commercials was a ugly big aa$$ gorilla growlin..

I dunno, I'm not buying into Jack Black as one of the characters.

King Kong is going to loose a lot of $$$ at the rate its going. - (The whole project cost 200 mil to make.)

I'm just going to Blockbuster this one.

I think this movie will do better worldwide...

this movie wont lose money.

i'm just glad to see that Brokeback Mountain is still doing extremely well. It deserves it.

King Kong was good, but WAY too long. I really like the action scenes, but they dragged on and they spent too much time time in the jungle.

I haven't seen it yet, admittedly, but i'm going to say this and say this quickly:

How in the WORLD can King Kong be on pace to make LESS in its 3 day than The Chronicles Of ****ing Narnia?!

This country is officially sad.

Because Universal didn't rally the crazy chrisitians.

Are you freaking serious?!! I saw Kong on Wednesday night. It was AMAZING! Yeah it's 3 hours long, but it was all WORTH IT! The graphics alone, man... WOW. <3

Some critics have said "King Kong" could be the next "Titanic," the modern box-office champ with $600 million domestically and $1.8 billion worldwide.

OUCH.

Heeeey there. Narnia was awesome. Plus hello, beloved book for like two generations or more. Don't insult Narnia just because Kong disapointed (so far, it will probably have legs). Of all movies to show how country is sad....Narnia is not one of them. The fact that it did well even with all the stupid christian politics people brought up is a good sign.

lol....there are alot of people who liked and saw it, who were not religious what so ever. At all. I liked it better then Lord of the Rings.

Oh shut up. You just like the art direction. Art direction is only one aspect of a movie, honey.If the pictures weren't bright and colorful you would hate it.

You're such a sucker for pretty pictures.

NUH UH! The acting was good (Mr. Tumnus, Witch, Lucy), the story was good (book), it was a great adaption, it was both dramatic and fun... So blah! Good movie.

LIES!

lmao.

King Kong took in 19.9 Mil on Saturday.
With a typical Sunday decrease, it might not hit 50 Million for the 3-day.