"Kong" takes in $9.8 million in first day

"King Kong," Peter Jackson's remake about the giant ape in love, took in $9.8 million (Ђ8.2 million) domestically 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 will generate audience word-of-mouth on top of stellar reviews for &to=http://english.pravda.ru/letters/2001/09/12/14984.html' target=_blank>"King Kong."

"My little monkey's doing great," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's head of distribution. "We're convinced with all the information we have that this is the big guy, and he's going to be around for a long time."

Besides its domestic gross, "King Kong" debuted with a total of $8 million (Ђ6.7 million) in 36 other countries Wednesday. According to Universal, "King Kong" had the biggest Wednesday opening ever in Jackson's home turf of New Zealand and outgrossed the first days of "The Lord of the Rings" movies in Hong Kong and Malaysia.