Bad News For Peter Jackson?

Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong did not get off to as good of a start as some had hoped:

Director Peter Jackson's costly remake of "King Kong," one of the most hyped movies of the year, started off with more of a whimper than a roar at the North American box office, according to sales data issued Sunday by its distributor Universal Pictures.

The special-effects behemoth sold $66.2 million worth of tickets in its first five days since opening Wednesday. For the three days beginning Friday, its sales were $50.1 million, enough to propel it to No. 1 at the weekend box office.

Universal said it was thrilled with the opening of Jackson's rumble in the jungle, given its running time of more than three hours, but industry analysts said they had expected the monkey movie to open nearer $90 million.

Of the four people I know who have seen it, all four like it but two of them said it was too long.