Box Office: Kong: Skull Island smashes into No.1; Logan and Get Out continued strong

Blockbuster season is well and truly here! With Logan having one of the biggest R-rated openings of all time last week, it has had to settle for 2nd place this week as the big King in town, Kong, has roared into the top spot. (via Box Office Mojo)

Outperfoming industry expectations, Kong: Skull Island opened to an estimated $61million for a $15,865 screen-average. While the opening is below the $93.1million grossed by Godzilla in 2014, which now shares the same universe as the giant ape, it was still over what was expected for the film and sets it in good stead for a decent run.

Internationally, however, the film exceeded Godzilla with a debut of around $81.6 for a worldwide gross of $142.6million on its debut, with the UK the highest debut country with around $7.6million, with $7.3million in Korea which was 90% ahead of the lizard film. With the two monsters set to duke it out in 2020, as well as the Godzilla sequel due before, the franchise could be in good shape if the performance continues.

Logan took second place with $37.85million in its second weekend, topping $150million in just 10 days. Soon, the film will be officially the biggest Wolverine film of the trilogy in the US and has now grossed $438million worldwide, making it the biggest of the three in the worldwide markets.

Continuing its excellent run is Get Out, the latest thriller/horror from Universal and Blumhouse – dropping just 25% from last week, the film’s domestic total now stands at $111million after pulling in around $21million over the weekend. The film now stands at Blumhouse’s second biggest grossing release in their history (2nd only to this year’s other hit, Split) and could well beat that before its run ends.

The Shack was fourth in the chart, grossing around $10million for a $32million gross, while The Lego Batman Movie completed the top 5 where it now stands at almost $160million domestically.

In limited release, Kristen Stewart-starrer Personal Shopper earned $92,516 from four cinemas for a $23,129 per-screen-average while horror Raw earned $25,230 from two theatres in its ss small opening.

The summer season truly kicks off next week with the long-awaited arrival of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stephens as the titular couple, and is set to be the first film of the year to top $100million on its domestic opening. In fact, the film could well top that with some online ticket retailers suggesting the film is tracking above the $179.1million opening of Captain America: Civil War last April. Could it even top $200million? Tune in next week to find out.