LOS ANGELES -- "King Kong," the self-proclaimed eighth wonder of the world, burst into theaters this week, but the somewhat muted numbers did not reflect the scope of director Peter Jackson's latest masterpiece. Still, they should catapult the film to a solid five-day opening. The PG-13 action-adventure movie from Universal Pictures opened Wednesday in 3,568 theaters across the United States and Canada and grossed $9.8 million. The film is unlikely to set records this weekend but should have strong legs through the holiday season. Universal is looking for opening numbers that rival Jackson's first "Lord of the Rings" project, 2001's "The Fellowship of the Ring," which opened to $75 million over five days. That easily should be surpassable considering the massive amount of hype surrounding "Kong." However, the new movie is going to have to score big Friday through Sunday because its Wednesday take was a little more than half of "Fellowship's" opening-day gross of $18.2 million. [More]