Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Beats Purge 2
As was expected, 20th Century Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes held onto first place last weekend (July 18-20) with $36.25 million. The critically acclaimed 3D sci-fi action sequel was down 50 percent from its opening weekend, which represented a very healthy second weekend hold for a blockbuster level film in the middle of summer. The film’s second weekend hold was similar to the 49 percent 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes fell when it grossed $27.83 million during its second weekend. With a 10-day start of $139.21 million, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is running 32 percent ahead of the $105.21 million 10-day take of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Last weekend’s hold is a strong sign for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes going forward, although the film will also soon be facing more direct competition from the likes of Universal Pictures’ Lucy, Paramount Pictures’ Hercules and Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy.
Universal’s The Purge: Anarchy was the strongest of the weekend’s three new wide releases, with a second place take of $29.82 million. The sequel to last year’s break-out horror film debuted in line with expectations. However, the film did open 12 percent below the $34.06 million debut of The Purge. The Purge: Anarchy will hope to hold up a bit better than The Purge did, in part from not having to face competition from the likes of Man of Steel and World War Z.
Planes: Fire and Rescue debuted in third with $17.51 million. The modestly budgeted computer animated sequel from Disney opened slightly below pre-release expectations and 21 percent below the $22.23 million debut of Planes last summer. While this summer has had a relatively limited number of choices for family audiences, Planes: Fire and Rescue may have failed to capitalize on the fairly empty family marketplace due in part to arriving in theaters so soon after its predecessor.
Sony Pictures’ Sex Tape debuted in fourth with a significantly poorer than expected $14.61 million. The R-rated comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel appears to have been hurt from both its poor critical reviews and from arriving in the marketplace on the heels of a number of successful comedies over the past few months including The Other Woman, Neighbors, 22 Jump Street and Tammy. Sex Tape could be helped going forward by the lack of new comedies entering the marketplace over the next few weeks.
Transformers: Age of Extinction rounded out the weekend’s top five with $9.85 million. The fourth installment of Paramount’s blockbuster sci-fi action franchise finally stabilized last weekend, as it was down 40 percent. Transformers: Age of Extinction has grossed $227.00 million through 24 days of release. While that already makes the film one of the year’s highest grossing releases thus far domestically, it is also 28.5 percent softer than the $317.37 million 24-day take of 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ Tammy placed in sixth with $7.40 million. The Melissa McCarthy comedy was down 41 percent and was likely helped out a bit last weekend by the poorer than expected start of Sex Tape. Tammy has grossed a solid $71.05 million in 19 days.
On the limited-release front, IFC Films’ Boyhood maintained momentum nicely last weekend by taking in $1.17 million from 34 locations. That represented a 202 percent increase over the previous weekend’s five-location start. Boyhood has grossed a strong $1.79 million in 10 days of platform release and will expand into additional locations next weekend.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | $36.25M | $139.21M | 2 | 2 | N/A | The Purge: Anarchy | $29.82M | $29.82M | 1 |
3 | N/A | Planes: Fire and Rescue | $17.51M | $17.51M | 1 |
4 | N/A | Sex Tape | $14.61M | $14.61M | 1 |
5 | 2 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | $9.85M | $227.00M | 4 |
6 | 3 | Tammy | $7.40M | $71.05M | 3 |
7 | 4 | 22 Jump Street | $4.70M | $180.51M | 6 |
8 | 5 | How to Train Your Dragon 2 | $3.90M | $160.78M | 6 |
9 | 6 | Earth to Echo | $3.27M | $31.99M | 3 |
10 | 8 | Maleficent | $3.24M | $228.30M | 8 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.