SUBMITTED BY pimpjoe_esb

December 26, 2005 — "King Kong" reigned at the North American box office for a second weekend on Monday, leading a busy field of Christmas newcomers and expansions even as overall ticket sales fell.

Director Peter Jackson's big ape remake sold an estimated $31.4 million worth of tickets in the four days beginning Friday, taking its total to a modest $118.7 million after 12 days.

Because of the holiday season, movie industry observers are still not certain how to classify the performance of Universal Pictures' $207 million movie. After a slow start, it picked up steam last weekend, but was surpassed in subsequent days by the weekend's No. 2 movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

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