Retro Throw Back: 2005's King Kong- What Went Wrong?

[ExcelFTW]

Nobody has answered the question. How the fuck with all the hype did it only open to $9M?

 

The 550m ww and 218 total aren't whats up for discussion, legs were pretty much good/great as expected. The ? is NINE MILLION.

 

PLANET OF THE APES opened to near 70 million 2001, so I highly doubt it was due to the 'creature feature'/monster movie remake angle.

 

The hype for Kong was deafening.

[ExcelFTW]

And it was long, and due to Narnia, did not get as many showtimes per day as many initially expected. But still, 9 million opening day was stunning.

[Jim Shorts]

Obviously what went wrong was that it wasn't split into 3 epic movies each surpassing the previous in terms of epicness.

[Goffe]

obviously, there was material for 4 epic films.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Goffe Luvs 1D

[a2k]

Probably there is something called over-hype, which intimidates instead of exciting the audience.

 

this is how movies speak to you:

 

movies with no hype - watch me or not. whatever

 

low hype - watch me

 

hype - please watch me. will be fun.

 

high hype - watch me! i promise you, you will have a lot of fun. not kidding

 

king kong - i. am. unreal. unlike, anything you ever dreamt off. watch me and you'll go    

Edited December 30, 2013 by a2knet

[Elessar]

It was more internet hype than hype among the general audience. Average Joe does not follow the director around. Just because PJ came off LOTR doesn't mean people would automatically watch his followup movie. I dunno why some people believe it should have opened big, it's a remake of a movie from the 30s about an ape that is into blondes. Having said that, it did open better than the initial knee-jerk reactions suggested after its $9m debut, kinda like Shrek 2. It just didn't have the fanbase that would rush out to see it as soon as possible.

[moviegeek]

This has always been one of the most puzzling box office blips.  It wasn't a bomb by any means, but I remember reading an article in a newspaper the week before the opening posing it to be the first film to ever really pose a threat to dethrone Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time.  

 

I love this movie and know many other people did as well, but I have no clue why it wasn't red hot when it first opened.  A complete mystery.  

[a2k]

It was more internet hype than hype among the general audience. Average Joe does not follow the director around. Just because PJ came off LOTR doesn't mean people would automatically watch his followup movie. I dunno why some people believe it should have opened big, it's a remake of a movie from the 30s about an ape that is into blondes. Having said that, it did open better than the initial knee-jerk reactions suggested after its $9m debut, kinda like Shrek 2. It just didn't have the fanbase that would rush out to see it as soon as possible.

 

 

 

I now am of the opinion that KK's opening was pretty big.

 

Adjusted for inflation, the 3-day is 62.5m (non Friday opening. Else would have been bigger)

 

Add to it that December movies are backloaded the opening was great.

 

What is the highest opening in December, till date, for a 2D film - 77.2 by I Am Legend

What is the highest opening in December, till date, for a 2D film not based on a book - King Kong

The 8 movies above it are either based on books(LOTR, Narnia, Hobbit, Sherlock, I am Legend) or Avatar, which was in 3D

http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/month/?mo=12&p=.htm

 

The only thing appealing about Kong was the special effects from the guy responsible for the LOTR shenanigans. Else, like with any fictional story set in 1930s, it's appeal is limited. Women especially are put off by the Kong-Ann treatment. The December opening for the 3 hour 7 minute 2D movie not based on a book was damn good.

 

Watson, the case is solved 

Edited December 30, 2013 by a2knet

[Films]

Can you this with more films please. It is really interesting

[Omario]

I took my future wife to this movie for our first date. I started crying at the end lol. Thank god she still fell in love with me:pNarnia stole its thunder as it seemed more family friendly. Perhaps basing it in 1933 may have hindered the interest. I remember being shocked with the 9mill number too. Still doesn't make sense to me. Good thing it had great legs to reach a respectable dom gross at the end of it. Batman begins and King Kong were the best movie of 2005 for me

[baumer]

Considering how quickly my WWW Threads get locked, why hasn't this been locked??? I mean, when you throw in the WW Number, there is no WWW Thread, right??? Yes?? No???

 

I've explained this to you.  

 

You opened up an Anchorman 2 WWW thread after it's opening day.  That was ludicrous.  

[baumer]

Perhaps looking at films that came out in the same time slot this year, nothing went wrong.  9 mill it seems is a good number for the week before Christmas.  It had the legs to get it over 200 mill, so really maybe the only thing that went wrong is that it wasn't frontloaded.

[Dingdong123]

Narnia happened.

[LonePirate]

I've explained this to you. You opened up an Anchorman 2 WWW thread after it's opening day.  That was ludicrous.

And it's not just as ludicrous to open a WWW thread on an 8 year old movie that grossed over $200M in the wake of an even bigger movie?Perhaps making Jack Black, Adrien Brody and Naomi Watts the stars of the movie made people realize they did not need to rush out and see this crap movie.

[a2k]

And it's not just as ludicrous to open a WWW thread on an 8 year old movie that grossed over $200M in the wake of an even bigger movie?Perhaps making Jack Black, Adrien Brody and Naomi Watts the stars of the movie made people realize they did not need to rush out and see this crap movie.

 

It's not ludicrous because the thread is specifically about KK's ow, and the 9m opening day being focused on. Not it's legs, dom total or ww total.

 

Considering it's mega hype and initial reactions after it's opening, whether or not you agree with how good/bad the opening was, the thread imo is legit.

 

As Baumer said, the 9m wasn't bad at all in hindsight. It was a non-3d 3 hour long 1933 based fiction, with families opting for Narnia at that time. Even Wolf of Wall Street, a non Christmasy 3 hours long 2d film, with Leo and Scorsese gets 35m over 5-days. That's how December is.

 

Kong is the 9th biggest opener in December (despite Wed opening softening the weekend). 7 of the 8 movies above it are based on books and other one's Avatar which was in 3d. 

 

So I don't think much went wrong with Kong, but it does deserve a discussion i guess, going by the general perception.

Edited December 31, 2013 by a2knet

[Kvikk Lunsj]

It was way too long just like those damn Hobbit movies. Mr. Jackson never listen to his teachers in school. Longer does not equal better if that was true than iJack would be the best poster on this site. 

[Lordmandeep]

Simple Narnia.

 

It was massive

 

 

Pretty much sold around 88-90% of the tickets THG and CF will sell in comparison. 

[grim22]

The archives really have some interesting threads. This was a pretty informative one as well. Didn't realize that King Kong only opened to 9M (despite having commented in this thread before). That is really a pretty low OD considering the hype it came in with.

[Kalo]

Nobody has answered the question. How the fuck with all the hype did it only open to $9M?

 

 

Ummm.... The film opened to $50m, don't know where they are getting $9m from like it definitely opened to $50m. I remember I started tracking BO that year. which is a very good number. sure it didn't hit colossal numbers ww. I didn't really find it all that great to be honest, it was lethargically paced way too long and overly dramatic. not to mention the cannibal tribe scene was unessarily dark imo. I'm not really a fan of giant monsters beasts fighting other beasts either.  

Edited September 30, 2015 by Kalo

[WrathOfHan]

Ummm.... The film opened to $50m, don't know where they are getting $9m from like it definitely opened to $50m. I remember I started tracking BO that year. which is a very good number. sure it didn't hit colossal numbers ww. I didn't really find it all that great to be honest, it was lethargically paced way too long and overly dramatic. not to mention the cannibal tribe scene was unusually dark imo. I'm not really a fan of giant monsters beasts fighting other beasts either.  

It's OD was 9M (granted it was a Wednesday)