Planet of the Apes Conquers Box Office

Twentieth Century Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was off to a strong start last weekend (July 11-13) with $72.61 million. The 3D sci-fi action sequel opened ahead of pre-release expectations and an impressive 32.5 percent stronger than the $54.81 million debut of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was helped out by a number of factors, including strong reviews, the already strong reception to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a relatively empty marketplace for the middle of July and the added advantage of higher priced 3D admissions, which Rise of the Planet of the Apes didn’t have. Going forward, the film will hope to follow in the footsteps of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which held up very nicely back in 2011.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes debuted in first place last weekend. (Photo: 20th Century Fox)

After topping the box office the previous two weeks, Transformers: Age of Extinction fell to second last weekend with $16.30 million. The fourth installment of Paramount Pictures’ blockbuster sci-fi action franchise fell 56 percent as it took a clear hit from the arrival of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes last weekend. Transformers: Age of Extinction surpassed the $200 million mark and has grossed $208.83 million through 17 days of release. While that is in line with the lower end of expectations, it also places the film 27.5 percent behind the $287.87 million 17-day take of 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Tammy was down one spot from the previous weekend to claim third with $12.56 million. The Melissa McCarthy comedy was down 42 percent, though it should also be noted that the film’s July 4 opening weekend performance was deflated a bit by the film’s Wednesday opening. Tammy continues to perform well, especially with its modest price tag in mind, with a 12-day take of $56.999 million. That places the film 38.5 percent behind the $92.64 million 12-day take of last year’s The Heat, which also starred McCarthy. Tammy will face new direct competition this coming weekend when Sony Pictures releases fellow comedy Sex Tape on Friday.

High-profile holdovers 22 Jump Street and How to Train Your Dragon 2 held onto fourth and fifth place last weekend with respective takes of $6.50 million and $6.07 million. Sony’s 22 Jump Street was down 34 percent from the previous weekend, while 20th Century Fox’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 fell just 32 percent. Both films were aided by the overall marketplace being slow by usual mid-July standards. Respective 31-day totals stand at an impressive $171.76 million for 22 Jump Street and an underwhelming $152.28 million for How to Train Your Dragon 2.

In their second weekend of release, Relativity Media’s Earth to Echo and Sony’s Deliver Us from Evil placed in sixth and seventh respectively with $5.49 million and $4.75 million. Earth to Echo was down a healthy 34 percent from the previous weekend, while Deliver Us from Evil was down an underwhelming 51 percent. Respective 12-day totals stand at a respectable $24.59 million for Earth to Echo and at a softer than expected $25.05 million for Deliver Us from Evil.

Upon expanding into moderate release (100-999 locations), The Weinstein Co.’s Begin Again placed in ninth with $2.82 million. The John Carney directed film starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo averaged a respectable $3,004 for the weelend from 939 locations. The 17-day total for Begin Again stands at $5.17 million.

On the platform front (one-99 theaters), IFC Films’ Boyhood was off to a very strong start with $387,618 from five locations in New York and Los Angeles. That gave the critically acclaimed Richard Linklater directed film an impressive per-location average of $77,524. That represented the second highest per-screen average of 2014 thus far for a platform launch behind only The Grand Budapest Hotel. Boyhood will expand into additional locations including D.C. this coming weekend.