“Kong: Skull Island,” the Warner Bros. revival of the giant ape movie “King Kong,” led the weekend box office in its North American debut, knocking 20th Century Fox’s superhero film “Logan” from the top spot.
“Skull Island” generated an estimated $61 million in ticket sales over the weekend in U.S. and Canadian theaters, researcher ComScore Inc. said in a emailed statement Sunday. Last weekend’s winner, “Logan,” starring Hugh Jackman in his final performance as the Marvel superhero Wolverine, sold $37.9 million in tickets.
“Kong: Skull Island,” co-produced by Dalian Wanda’s Legendary Entertainment, is part of a slate of monster movies from Warner Bros. following the successful reboot of “Godzilla” in 2014. The film unit of Time Warner Inc. plans to release “Godzilla 2” in 2019, followed by a movie feature with both monsters in 2020. The series adds to Warner Bros.’ already large realm of franchises that include DC Comics, Harry Potter, and Lego.
The movie, which stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Hiddleston, follows a group of explorers who travel to an uncharted island and discover Kong. The film scored 80 percent positive reviews on Rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates ratings. The picture cost $185 million, not including millions for marketing, according to researcher Box Office Mojo, which was predicting $46 million in weekend sales.
“Logan” is the latest 21st Century Fox Inc. film based on the Marvel X-Men superheroes, with Jackman concluding a 17-year run as Wolverine that spanned nine movies. In the latest picture, the title character and his mentor Professor X come out of hiding to help a young girl who’s being pursued by dark forces. The film had the biggest opening weekend of 2017, collecting $88.4 million in its debut, and was expected to do $42.1 million this weekend.
(c) 2017, Bloomberg ยท Nicole Piper
