Weekend Box Office: 'Kong' is Triumphant

The race for the top box-office spot this weekend was expected to be close, but it turned out not to be close at all. Kong: Skull Island outperformed predictions and easily bested Logan on its way to the number-one position. However, it's likely that the giant gorilla will only get to enjoy one week at the top of the charts.

Kong, the only new wide release this week, was expected to earn between $40 and $50 million and finish neck-and-neck with Logan. Instead, Kong raked in $61 million and had no trouble winning the weekend.

Logan, on the other hand, fell off from last weekend by a hefty 57% and took in only $37.9 million to secure a distant second place. Third place went to Get Out with $21 million and fourth place went to The Shack with $10 million. The Lego Batman Movie rounded out the top five with a $7.8-million gross.

Although Kong's weekend performance was impressive, it might be enough to make the movie a financial success. It's likely to suffer considerably next week with the release of Beauty and the Beast, and Kong's massive $185-million production budget means it needs a long, healthy run at the box office to make a profit.