“Kong: Skull Island” gobbled the bulk of yuan that Chinese moviegoers paid on Friday, March 24, when the Hollywood film premiered in China. Its first-day earnings of $22.5 million is almost 76 percent of the total box-office earnings that day.
With the amount, the movie just established records in China as the second-biggest English-language film launch after “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.” It is also the fifth largest Friday debut for an American movie in China, Variety reported.
Tom Prepares for Role
The movie stars Tom Hiddleston, Samuel Jackson, John Goodman and Brie Larson. For the reboot of the King Kong franchise, Tom Hiddleston trained with two British Royal Marines and a U.S. Navy Seal. The $185-million movie from Warner Bros. is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
The movie has almost recovered the $185 million production cost since it earned another $18 million on its third weekend run in the U.S. for a total domestic box office of $140 million by Sunday. Outside of China, the earnings of “Kong: Skull Island” earned a total of $167.3 million, mainly from the movie’s exhibition in the U.K., Mexico and South Korea. It opened in Japan on March 25.
No Romance
The film’s fast-paced story and visual effects impressed moviegoers and critic. Cinema Blend noted that unlike other King Kong movies, “Kong: Skull Island” did not have one classic element of films involving the gorilla. There is no Beauty-and-the-Beast type of love story. There are only a few hints, but romance was missing.
Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of the 2017 reboot, explained that the romance angle had been overused in the past few years by movies of the franchise. He was not interested in exploiting that angle but instead focused on action.
Two more King Kong movies are scheduled for showing until 2020. These are “Godzilla 2” to premier on March 22, 2019 and “Godzilla vs. Kong” on May 21, 2020.