December 28, 2005

King Kong Holds Off Narnia In A Tight Box-Office Race

By Alyssa Rashbaum (MTV.com)

Not even the combined force of five new releases could knock King Kong from his throne.

Fun With Dick And Jane, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, The Ringer, Rumor Has It, and Wolf Creek all hit the big screen this holiday weekend, but none could overthrow King Kong, which held on to the No. 1 spot on the box-office top 10 for the second week in a row, earning more than $31.4 million, according to early estimates.

Peter Jackson's remake of the classic film stars Jack Black as an arrogant filmmaker who takes Naomi Watts' Ann Darrow to the mysterious Skull Island, where Kong falls in love with the blond beauty and spares her life.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe also clung to its spot on the box-office top 10. The fantasy film, based on the C.S. Lewis novel in which four children unlock a wardrobe that leads to a land kept in perpetual winter by an evil witch, earned more than $30.1 million in its third week in theaters.

The first new release to impact the box-office top 10 this week is Jim Carrey's Fun With Dick And Jane, which bowed at No. 3 with $23.5 million. Carrey and Téa Leoni star in the comedy remake in which a couple living the good life decides to take up a life of crime when the husband (Carrey) loses his job.

Carrey beat Steve Martin in the comedy category this week as Martin's Cheaper By The Dozen 2 debuted at No. 4. In the sequel to the 2003 remake, Tom Baker (Martin) and his wife (Bonnie Hunt) take their 12 children on a family vacation in which they enter into a competition with another oversized family, led by Eugene Levy. The film, which also stars Hilary Duff, Carmen Electra and Tom Welling, earned more than $14.7 million.

The Family Stone fell from No. 2 to No. 5 under the weight of the two new comedies, earning more than $10.8 million. The comedy stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Meredith Morton, an uptight woman visiting the tight-knit family of her fiancee (Dermot Mulroney).

Memoirs Of A Geisha, which opened in wide release this week, debuted on the box-office top 10 at No. 6, with $10.2 million. The adaptation of the novel of the same name stars Ziyi Zhang as Sayuri, a poor child sold to a geisha house. Sayuri enters into a life of wealth and privilege -- which she is ultimately not sure she wants.

Rounding out the top 10 are The Ringer, which debuted at No. 7 with $8.4 million; Rumor Has It, which bowed at No. 8 with more than $7.4 million; Wolf Creek, which opened at No. 9 with more than $5.9 million; and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, which dropped from No. 4 to No. 10 with more than $5.7 million.

Overall, ticket sales were down from the corresponding weekend last year.

Next week, look for The Matador and Match Point to debut on the box-office top 10.