Ed Blank writes: Hang onto those condolences notes. At six days of age, "King Kong" isn't ready for burial yet. In the strange new math of modern times, a $9.8 million Wednesday opening in mid-December looks disappointing. So does a five-day gross in the vicinity of $65 million, about $50 million of which came in from Friday to Sunday. It's true that "King Kong" opened disappointingly. Forecasts for the first five days were in the $85 million-to-$90 million range. So we're looking at a five-day debut that came up at least $20 million short, right? But when you figure that "King Kong" took in an additional $80 million in 55 foreign territories over the weekend and came in No. 1 everywhere but Japan (birthplace of Godzilla, no less) and Italy, the gorilla movie looks a bit healthier. And it's about to enter the extremely lucrative period from Friday through Jan. 1. Exit polls indicate unusually favorable word, which will help. And business jumped 40 percent from Friday to Saturday. Some new films begin their descent the first Saturday of the run. [More]