"Kong" takes in $9.8 million in first day

"King Kong," Peter Jackson's remake about the giant ape in love, took in $9.8 million (Ђ8.2 million) domestically in its first day, solid for a mid-week debut but far below the king-size premieres of other action epics.

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Distributor Universal called Wednesday's ticket sales a good beginning that will generate audience word-of-mouth on top of stellar reviews for &to=http://english.pravda.ru/letters/2001/09/12/14984.html' target=_blank>"King Kong."

"My little monkey's doing great," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's head of distribution. "We're convinced with all the information we have that this is the big guy, and he's going to be around for a long time."

Besides its domestic gross, "King Kong" debuted with a total of $8 million (Ђ6.7 million) in 36 other countries Wednesday. According to Universal, "King Kong" had the biggest Wednesday opening ever in Jackson's home turf of New Zealand and outgrossed the first days of "The Lord of the Rings" movies in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

The first of &to=http://english.pravda.ru/society/2003/01/10/41876.html' target=_blank>Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" films, "The Fellowship of the Ring," opened on a Wednesday in December 2001 with $18.2 million, nearly double the take of "King Kong."

The second installment, "The Two Towers," debuted on a Wednesday a year later with $26.2 million, while the final chapter, "The Return of the King," opened with $34.5 million the next year, a record for a Wednesday debut until "Spider-Man 2" broke it six months later with $40.4 million.

"The Lord of the Rings" flicks opened closer to Christmas, when college students generally were off for winter break and free to hit the theaters.

The $9.8 million (Ђ8.2 million) gross puts "King Kong" at No. 21 on the all-time list of best Wednesday debuts, just behind "Catch Me If You Can" and ahead of "Armageddon." Most other films ranking above it were summer blockbusters or franchise films such as "The Matrix Revolutions."

Still, expectations have been huge for "King Kong," though analysts say it could follow the long-haul pattern of "Titanic," which had a comparatively modest $28.6 million (Ђ23.8 million) opening weekend but stayed afloat to become the biggest-grossing modern film at $600 million (Ђ500 million) domestically and $1.8 billion (Ђ1.5 billion) worldwide, reports AP. O.Ch.

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