The openind day IS very disappointing. In fact it's only half of what I originally predicted. I'm also hoping for a Shrek effect here and a fairly big friday. Fingers crossed.

Well what went wrong with opening day who knows. We have no idea if it's just people dont give a shit about the movie or that people just didnt have time and didnt really know it opens on a wednesday. If Kong tells you anything it's that only big franchise movies should open on a Wednesday AND it should only be during the summer.

Simply read real reviews from people who haven't been bewitched to create unreal hype and vocalize overwhelmingly glowing reviews while glossing over the films faults. Now as a point, the people I speak of don't Hate the film they just feel the film was a Good film not a "instant classic" as some critics have proclaimed.

Other reasons why the opening sucked would be it's opening mid week, schools not on holiday , college exams, and running time.

I honestly have no idea.

I'd guess the fact that it really doesn't have a fanbase, it's three hours long, and it was Wednesday, but I'm still shocked.

The "real" people at Yahoo rate it at -A, and at IMDB it's 8.3.

Unless you have some statistics to support your argument, I don't find it belieavable. Opening day is not disappointing because of so-so WOM, since WOM won't come to effect until the film has been out a couple of days.

There you go!

If Box wasn't studying, King Kong would've grossed at LEAST $15M

This will NOT have a Shrek 2 opening. First off that came out in the summer and as explained in another thread, no one knew Shrek 2 was coming out on Wednesday (it was changed 12 days before it came out). King Kong was always a Wednesday release.

This is a flop: why? King Kong is LAME and stupid.

Something did go wrong given that number.

They advertised it as a romantic movie for the past week in a desperate attempt to build interest among females.

Too bad I didn't visit these forums back when Titanic was released, cause it would have been funny seeing a "Titanic: What Went Wrong?" thread a couple months after its release.

Im not saying King Kong will make even close to that much, but I am saying that it's one day, and it is a wednsday.

I remember a Shrek 2: What Went Wrong thread on Box Office Mojo.

I say we make a wager...

If Kong makes MORE than 60 milthis weekend everyone who made fun of Kong's opening day must join the 300 mil club

I thought that with a lot of advertising and Jackson's name, KK would have a good opening day (I thought $12M would be its absolute minimum). I guess what went wrong is that it doesn't look interestign enough. Why? I dunno.

Oh, and nothing went wrong, we just expected too much

Dude, Kong had an opening day 1.5 million lower than Shrek 2, which was a kids film opening on a Wednesday, during the school year. And as people said, the Wednesday release was announced 12 days beforehand.

I am curious as to the film's demographics. It will be an interesting tug-of-war between lovers of the original and teenage action fans.

Mind you, we have little precedent as to non-franchise Wednesday tentpole releases. Everything from Phantom Menace to Matrix Revolutions to Batman Begins had zealous fanbases. King Kong, on the other hand, while well known, is more of a historical icon than object of obsession. Also do not forget the effect of midnight screenings; Kong had none to benefit from, and likely also suffered from slow matinee business. Somebody that skives off work to see LOTR may not do so for a standalone film such as this.

High school and college students, the primary market for action films, is completely out of commission during this time of year, no exaggeration intended. Students do not even have time to eat breakfast right now. Have you ever wondered why this part of December is so dreadfully bad at the box office? Now you know.

This movie will generate slow-but-steady business over the holiday season this year. Do not forget the example set by Fellowship of the Ring, opening with mediocre numbers (small book-fan rush on opening day aside) but making a spectacular performance.

If I'm wrong, pie me. I prefer coconut cream.

And Kong is a broader audience film, opening during a school year... during finals... and it has a very little built in fanbase... UNLIKE Shrek 2

The last giant monkey movie remake (a very select group of movies indeed) was 1998's Mighty Joe Young with Charlize Theron and it made $50 million domestic. It was actually a very good movie, though not up to the extremely high standard of the 1949 original.

So at least King Kong still has an outside chance to top this one select category...

Kids are in school, college folks have finals, This is not frontloaded in with a pre-established audience.

Nothing went wrong..yet.

I posted this in another thread as well (pre Wed figure release). People were not clamoring for a big monster movie. Like Batman and Robin did with Batman movies, the big monster movies have been dramatically overexposed, thanks to Godzilla. Yes, its been 7 years, but look at the effect that Batman and Robin had on Batman Begins' subdued opening. Also, contrary to what most want to believe, December is KNOWN for massively disappointing openings. It is a trademark of the month. But the legs wrinkle things out. But in Kong's case, lack of a bonafide star also didn't help. Watts, Black, and Brody are all great, but they don't have consistent bankability. Yes, Jackson could be argued as the star, but he isn't in Burton's league yet with the fanbase rushing out. He has LOTR, but for the average moviegoer, going from fantasy to a monster picture doesn't exactly completely warrant a rush out.

Also, just to add, the weather has stunk, and the east especially has it bad tommorow. I myself am getting almost 4 feet of snow! Do I feel like going to see Kong in that? NO! I'll wait thank you very much. But cities like Toronto will be massively effected by the snowstorm, which will give Kong a very subdued weekend figure. Wait and see. But the legs should be fantastic.

http://boxofficemojo.com/polls/?page=vi ... 252&p=.htm

Thats a fun poll to look at I of course chose the all mightly Narnia over the other two

Yeah, how people are comparing this to Shrek 2 is beyond me.

Sadly, every Wednesday that opens up with less than $10 million (or a little more) will be compared to Shrek 2

True and most of them would be fortunate to come within $250M of Shrek 2's gross.

Exactly. The Wednesday release took up some of the Friday-going people (that's why it opened with $28 million only) and then BAM more people came for Saturday.

King Kong is a flop. Lord of the Rings was just a fluke for Jackson and this proved it.

This is more like Batman Begins if you ask me. That opened to "only" $15 million on a summer Wednesday. It would surely have had an opening day similar to Kong's had it opened on its slot.

King Kong's current word of mouth is fantastic (#7 of all time and an A- on Yahoo, which made up of average joes and not movie geeks like IMDb is), as Begins' was. I remember some doomsayers for Begins as well, and look how that turned out.