King Kong is no lord of the box office

King Kong, Peter Jackson’s remake about the giant ape in love, took $9.8m (€8.1m) at US box offices in its first day, solid for a mid-week debut but far below the king-size premieres of other action epics.

Distributor Universal called Wednesday’s ticket sales a good beginning that would generate audience word-of-mouth on top of stellar reviews for King Kong.