With a new shared universe kicking off, the Eighth Wonder of the World commanded the attention of the box office.

Opening in first place is Kong: Skull Island (read our review) with $61 million. While that figure is far below the debut of fellow MonsterVerse installment Godzilla ($93.1 million), it is still a strong start and ended up surpassing the projections going into the weekend. Not only did the film feature the iconic King Kong on the big screen for the first time since 2005, it also benefitted from largely positive reviews. Many critics felt it made for a fun popcorn flick, which added to its appeal. Plus, the all-star ensemble cast gave it some considerable star power.

Of course, Kong's time on the top of the charts should be short-lived. Next week, it goes head-to-head with Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast, which is tracking extremely well. It will be interesting to see how Skull Island holds in its second weekend as it faces such stiff competition. Legendary Pictures would like for their tentpole to be as big a hit as possible, so it will be important for the film to generate massive revenue during the week, before Beast opens. With a global total of $142.5 million and a production budget of a whopping $185 million, Skull Island still has a long road to profitability.

Falling to second is last week's champ Logan, which made $37.8 million in its second weekend. That's a 57.2 percent drop-off from its record-breaking opening, which is a solid performance considering a new, PG-13 rated (wider appeal) genre picture was arriving in theaters. Hugh Jackman's farewell to Wolverine now stands at $152.6 million domestically, already making more than 2013's The Wolverine did in its entire run.

Coming in third is Get Out. The horror/thriller brought in $21 million this weekend, raising its domestic total to an impressive $111 million.

Get Out 2017 movie reviews

The Shack is in fourth with $10 million. The religious drama is now up to $32.2 million in the States.

Rounding out the top five is The LEGO Batman Movie. WB's animated hit brought in $7.8 million in its fifth weekend to increase its domestic haul to $159 million.

The #6 film is Before I Fall with $3.1 million. It has now made $9 million in the U.S.

Best Picture nominee Hidden Figures comes in seventh once again, grossing $2.7 million in its twelfth weekend. The drama has now earned $162.8 million Stateside.

Mary stands with a crowd to watch a report on a television in a store window in Hidden Figures

Action sequel John Wick: Chapter 2 comes in eighth. Keanu Reeves' latest made $2.7 million over the weekend, raising its domestic total to $87.4 million.

In ninth is La La Land. The musical earned $1.7 million to increase its Stateside gross to $148.4 million.

Capping off the top 10 is Fifty Shades Darker. The book adaptation grossed $1.6 million in its fifth weekend and now stands at $112.9 million domestically.

[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates -- based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, March 13 -- at which time we'll update this post with any changes.]

Source: Box Office Mojo