UPDATED - 4:30PM EST

Universal's King Kong was upstaged at the box office on Wednesday by Disney's competing big-budget holiday season entry The Chronicles of Narnia which edged out the great ape to reclaim the top spot for the day. Though a slim victory, Narnia grossed $4.94M in its thirteenth day while Kong was a whisker behind with $4.87M in its eighth day of release, according to official studio figures.

With a majority of young school children out of school, the Disney blockbuster jumped up 41% from last Wednesday. Peter Jackson's monster movie on the other hand dropped 50% from last Wednesday, which was its opening day, and slipped 7% from Tuesday. Cumes stand at $127.7M for Narnia and $81.9M for Kong. Heading into the all-important Christmas holiday weekend, Narnia is showing more momentum increasing its daily gross each day this week while Kong has seen its grosses slip each day since Saturday.

Two new comedies opened on Wednesday ahead of the long weekend with Jim Carrey's Fun With Dick and Jane bowing to $3.8M beating out Steve Martin's Cheaper by the Dozen 2 which debuted to $2.6M. Each film launched in over 3,000 theaters. Given their appeal, Dick probably competed more with the King Kong audience while Dozen played more to the family audience that Narnia is attracting. The holiday calendar and word-of-mouth will both impact the long extended opening sessions for the two comedies so it is too early to tell which will gross more over the full six days.

Read the NEW Weekend Box Office column which examines all the new films opening over the crowded Christmas frame.

For reviews of Munich and King Kong, visit The Chief Report.

Last Updated: December 22, 2005 at 4:30PM EST

Written by Gitesh Pandya