Kong Skull Island

Skull Island’ Conquering ‘logan’ For Top Spot At B.o. With $53m

... that’s just over $30 M. 1 st Update, 7:19 AM: Warner Bros./Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island started the weekend with Thursday preshows grossing $3.7 M. Pic expands to 3,846 theaters today and will also be shown in Imax and 3 D. The Jordan Vogt-Roberts film featuring Hollywood’s biggest, hairiest star is also pouncing in 65 offshore territories. Yesterday, he made a total of $3.3 M from plays in South Korea, France, Russia, Indonesia, and hit No. 1 in those countries. Kong: Skull Island is not cheap with a production cost of $185 M-$190 M before P&A. Global opening projections are at $135 M, with stateside hovering between $45 M-$50 M per tracking earlier this week. 20 th Century Fox. In the U. S./Canada, the great ape has the benefit of being the only major studio wide release — which is more and more a rare marketplace opportunity. However, if Kong is sweating and huffing a bit, it’s because 20 th Century Fox’s R-rated Logan is on a tear with a first week’s cume of $114.8 M. Should Logan dip slightly this weekend to the high ...

Moviebob Reviews

... escort on the premise that claiming an island full of monsters might be a nice “pick-me-up” for everybody now that the Vietnam War has come to a downer ending. What they don’t realize is that Skull Island is actually an access point to an underground lair of giant man-eating lizards held in check only by the island’s alpha-predator protector Kong, so when the army shows up to agitate things he attacks them. And everyone winds up in scattered teams all trying to get to the same extraction point. One team mainly consists of Tom Hiddleston as a good-guy mercenary, Brie Larson as a photographer and Jing Tian and Corey Hawkins as part of the Monarch team; while the other is the (mostly monster-chow) army detachment led by Samuel L. Jackson as an unhinged Colonel who decides that killing Kong will help him feel better about being ...

Godzilla Vs. Kong' Film Sets Writers Room Exclusive

... Jack Paglen, who wrote the Johnny Depp-starring Transcendence and who also worked on the upcoming Alien: Covenant. And J. Michael Straczynski, the comic book writer and creator of 1990 s sci-fi show Babylon 5 whose recent credits include World War Z and co-creating Netflix show Sense 8 with the Wachowskis. Legendary, with Warners, continues to build out their monster universe centered on classic silver screen creatures Godzilla and King Kong. Godzilla, released in 2014, was the first entry, and Skull Island, during its development, was retrofitted to fold into an overall story. Legendary is now in the casting stages of a sequel to Godzilla, titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters, with Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown so far on the roll call. That movie has a March 22, 2019, release date. Godzilla vs. Kong is eyeing May 29, 2020. Studios in recent years have ...

Skull Island' Is King At Thursday Box Office With $3.7 Million

... (1990). Jackson starred as Stacks Edwards, a tertiary character overshadowed by roles played by lead actors Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci and Paul Sorvino. Warner Bros. "Coming to America" (1988). While it's hard to forget "Coming to America," where Eddie Murphy plays an African prince who travels to Queens to find a wife, there's one character who may have slipped your mind: Jackson played Hold-Up Man. His character robs a restaurant in which Murphy dines. "School Daze" (1988). In Spike Lee’s early movie about students at a historically black college, Jackson has a small but crucial scene as a townie who confronts students about their sense of entitlement. In his typically earthy way, Jackson says: “I betcha you n—ers think y’all are white.". "Patriot Games" (1992). Harrison Ford’s first big-screen turn as CIA analyst Jack Ryan features Jackson in a small role as Navy Lieutenant Commander Robby Jackson, a buddy of Ryan’s from his military career who comes to his aid when terrorists come after him and the British royal family. "Jurassic Park" (1993). Jackson played John Arnold in the first ...

Hollywood's Favorite Giant Ape Returns In 'kong

... it lives on a secluded island that you're not going to get your characters to for about 40 scene-setting minutes. That's too long to wait for the first scare, so how do you make people jump at the beginning without giving away the scale of your aardvark? Maybe just show a shadow - well, not if you're filmmaker Jordan Vogt-Roberts. He brings on his beast in the very first scene. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KONG: SKULL ISLAND"). MONDELLO: In fact, he even stages the scene in a way he's going to repeat later when it's time for beauty to meet his beast, and then he trundles through the 40 minutes of scene setting, having basically given away his big reveal, to build up to a reveal that isn't so big anymore but that does have helicopters. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KONG: SKULL ISLAND"). SAMUEL L JACKSON: (As Preston Packard) Fox leader to fox group, form a perimeter. MONDELLO: That's Samuel L. Jackson as a military man fresh out of Vietnam, the year being 1973. He is eager to battle an enemy he'll be allowed to beat. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KONG: SKULL ISLAND"). JACKSON: (As Preston Packard) Fire at will. MONDELLO: The director has clearly seen "Apocalypse Now," and so it seems has Samuel L. ...

Kong Motion-capture Actor On Sequel Plans And Seeking Andy Serkis' Blessing

... with Fay Wray, which is amazing. That version is, I think, my favorite, just because that first image when he comes up to her, she’s tied up and he has this look in his eye — It was just terrifying. And it was so simple. It still holds up. And Andy was amazing in his version. Just that relationship he had with Naomi Watts was just beautiful and loving and caring and sweet, so you just fall in love with that character. This story is a bit different, it’s more of an introduction to this character, with the relationships with the humans just getting started in this one. Even though Kong has many human qualities, he is still an ape. Did you study actual primates to help nail the character. Yeah, I definitely studied apes. It’s funny because when I first started trying to play an ape, way back in 2000 [for Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake], I was kind of imitating what they do. And it was like, this is not working. What is it? Then I got to play with these two chimps, Jacob and Jonah, they were four and ...

Skull Island’ Goes Into ‘apocalypse Now’ Territory

... a more enlightened update that tries to make amends for the Kong mythos’s uncomfortable underlying themes of bestial sexism, racism and humanity triumphing over nature. And have we mentioned “Skull Island” also boasts a vast, eclectic cast of characters who weren’t generated by computers? What makes that more impressive is how Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, “Straight Outta Compton’s” Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, Toby Kebbell and others all manage to limn fairly dimensional, conflicted human beings amid all the massive monstrous mayhem. Perhaps what’s most memorable about the whole complicated project is that the director who orchestrated it all, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, is only making his second feature here, following the modest indie teen flick “The Kings of Summer.” He’s the latest in a line of younger male directors who have taken the vertiginous leap from no-budget indies ...

Giant Ape Footprints Appear Around L.a. In Colossal Stunt For Kong

... iconic and sensitive locations in all of Los Angeles,” says Smith. “When I first approached the Parks Department to execute this, they told me I was nuts. However, we continued to push and work with all jurisdictions, including the residents of Runyon Canyon Park. This was the studio’s ‘money shot,’ and it was imperative I secured the location. The entire stunt would be worthless if we didn’t get approval to bring Kong to the park. In the end, I was able to gain approvals across the board, and the shots—and drone footage—that came from this location are absolutely breathtaking.”. Dolby Theatre. Finally, on Wednesday, Kong made it to the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside the Dolby Theatre, where the premiere was held last night. “His final stop!” Smith says. “He finally made it to the premiere and crushed his own star on the famous Walk of Fame. Challenges—to be honest, this one was a breeze, as we integrated into the premiere setup.”. All of the Kong locations were on ...