Movie News: Kong Skull Island Thunders To The Top Of PH Box Office

Warner Bros. Pictures’, Legendary Pictures’ and Tencent Pictures’

Epic Action Adventure Grosses P77.86-M in 4 Days

MANILA, March 13, 2017 – Kong: Skull Island, Warner Bros. Pictures’, Legendary Pictures’ and Tencent Pictures’ epic reimagining of one of cinema’s mightiest monster myths, thundered to the top of the Philippine box office, earning a total of more than P77.86-M across 290 screens, with no signs of slowing down. The announcement was made today by Francis Soliven, General Manager of Warner Bros. Philippines.

Opening virtually day-and-date across the globe, the action adventure from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts brings Kong stomping back to the big screen at a whole new scale, alongside an acclaimed cast led by Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson and John C. Reilly.

In making the announcement, Soliven stated, “Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and his extraordinary cast and filmmaking team have delivered the crowd-pleasing monster movie that audiences across the Philippines have been waiting for. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the film’s incredible debut, and the responses of both critics and moviegoers promise that Kong will roar well into the season.”

In the US, Kong: Skull Island emerged victorious after a battle of the beasts that pitted the giant ape movie against Logan. Cresting a wave of good reviews, Kong: Skull Island topped the domestic box office, racking up a mighty $61 million which is above expectations. Early estimates had Kong debuting to between $45 million and $50 million.

The producers of Godzilla reimagine the origins of one the most powerful monster myths of all in Kong: Skull Island, from Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and Tencent Pictures.

A compelling, original adventure from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer), the film tells the story of a diverse team of scientists, soldiers and adventurers uniting to explore a mythical, uncharted island in the Pacific, as dangerous as it is beautiful. Cut off from everything they know, the team ventures into the domain of the mighty Kong, igniting the ultimate battle between man and nature. As their mission of discovery becomes one of survival, they must fight to escape a primal Eden in which humanity does not belong.

Vogt-Roberts directed the film from a screenplay by Dan Gilroy and Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly, story by John Gatins. Kong: Skull Island is produced by Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni and Alex Garcia, with Eric McLeod and Edward Cheng serving as executive producers.

Now playing across the Philippines in 2D, 3D in select theatres, and IMAX, Kong: Skull Island is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Check out our Kong: Skull Island Movie Review! Click here. 

MOVIES: THE SOUND AND THE FURY: CREATING “KONG” OF “SKULL ISLAND”

For the filmmakers overseeing such a complex production as “Kong: Skull Island,” there was perhaps nothing more challenging or exhilarating than the creation of the title character. They certainly didn’t make things easy for themselves. “I always imagined King Kong as being his own species and defying any simple characterization or comparison with the creatures of our world,” says producer Thomas Tull.

Tull’s perspective was perfectly in sync with the director’s, whose iconic monster is like no other. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts confirms, “In our film, Kong is a throwback to a classic movie monster, not just an ape. I wanted our Kong to be more of a lonely god than ever before. Then I wanted to slowly reveal that he has empathy and pathos and can connect with others on an emotional level. Even though in our film he is god-like, there’s humanity to Kong—a heart that I think people will respond to.”

The effort to make Kong live and emote onscreen with as much detail and realism as possible involved a broad coalition of creative talents within the visual effects and animation teams, and specialists in concept art, sound and design, all unified through Vogt-Roberts’s vision for the character and his directive to think outside the box.