Weekend Box Office Report: March 10-12, 2017

Kong is big at the box office!

The great gorilla of legend climbed onto screens once again this weekend to put KONG: SKULL ISLAND on top with an estimated opening of $61 million!

The king of the apes pounded his chest in victory at the $50.1 million start of Peter Jackson's KING KONG in 2005, but he couldn't punch past the $93.1 million opening of fellow giant monster GODZILLA in 2014 (the two titans will square off in 2020, assuming a squad of writers can figure out how to make it happen).

Compared to other recent creature features, KONG crushed the $37.2 million opening of PACIFIC RIM but (assuming cloned dinosaurs qualify as giant monsters) barely scratched the $208 million opening of JURASSIC WORLD.

The PG-13 mega-beast adventure with Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson came with a $185 million price tag, and made an additional $81.6 million from international crowds for a worldwide opening weekend of $142.6 million. Critics mostly applauded the monkey business with 78% on Rotten Tomatoes (the JoBlo review is HERE).

LOGAN got stomped down to second place with $37.8 million, losing 57% from last weekend's #1 debut. Hugh Jackman's final time popping the adamantium claws has a ten-day domestic total of $152.6 million, already defeating the $132.5 million domestic finish of THE WOLVERINE (not to mention the $146.4 million total of the almost Wolvie-free X-MEN: FIRST CLASS).

With $438 million worldwide so far, LOGAN also passed the global totals of the first X-MEN ($296 million), X-MEN: FIRST CLASS ($353 million), X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE ($373 million), X2: X-MEN UNITED ($407 million) and THE WOLVERINE ($414 million). For R-rated comic book adaptations, it ranks third behind the worldwide totals of 300 ($456 million) and DEADPOOL ($783 million).

The R-rated horror movie GET OUT continues its amazing performance in third place with $21 million, bringing its domestic total to $111 million on its third weekend in theaters. After the $135 million haul of SPLIT, Jordan Peele's $5 million thriller is both the second hit of year for Blumhouse and their second-highest grossing release ever.

The religious drama THE SHACK moved to fourth with $10 million, down only 37% from its opening last week. The faith-based Sam Worthington/Octavia Spencer release has a ten-day domestic total of $32.2 million (on a reported cost of $20 million).

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE was in fifth with $7.8 million for a domestic total of $159 million (currently the lowest for a Batman movie besides the scorned BATMAN & ROBIN). The heroic brick figure now has a worldwide total of $275 million.

The teen drama BEFORE I FALL held onto sixth place with $3.1 million, a drop of just 33% from last week's opening. The adaptation of the Lauren Oliver book has a ten-day domestic total of $9.1 million (it cost a reported $5 million to produce).

The NASA drama HIDDEN FIGURES continued to orbit seventh place with $2.7 million, and its worldwide total has now soared over $200 million. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO was close behind in eighth with $2.7 million as the R-rated Keanu Reeves hitman sequel has reached $153 million worldwide.

Multiple award-winner LA LA LAND moved up a spot post-Oscars to ninth place with $1.7 million, and the Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone musical romance has danced to a remarkable $416 million worldwide. The sequel FIFTY SHADES DARKER closed out the list with $1.6 million.

Outside the chart, Matt Damon's action-fantasy THE GREAT WALL jumped off the list. Best Picture winner MOONLIGHT collected another $1 million while in limited release, the Kristen Stewart thriller PERSONAL SHOPPER started with an adequate $23k per-screen average.

Next weekend brings Belle and her furry sweetheart to life in Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and writer-producer James Gunn delivers office horrors in THE BELKO EXPERIMENT, or you can choose life again with the limited release of Danny Boyle's sequel T2: TRAINSPOTTING.

What is your favorite giant monster movie? VOTE HERE!