Matt Reeves' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes easily claimed the top spot in its debut weekend, leaving its competition in the dust. While the Apes sequel will likely end the weekend with a mid-$70 million haul, the closest contender was Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, which brought in $16.5 million. While the weekend performance for Optimus Prime and Co. wasn't all that impressive, the movie did cross the $200 million domestic watermark, as well as three-quarters of a billion dollars at the global box office. Let that sink in for a second before you check out the rest of the weekend's top flicks.
Here are how the top ten stand:
|
Title |
Weekend |
Total |
|
|
1. |
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes |
$73,000,000 |
$73.0 |
|
2. |
Transformers: Age of Extinction |
$16,500,000 |
$209.0 |
|
3. |
Tammy |
$12,910,000 |
$57.4 |
|
4. |
22 Jump Street |
$6,700,000 |
$172.0 |
|
5. |
How to Train Your Dragon 2 |
$5,865,000 |
$152.1 |
|
6. |
Earth to Echo |
$5,500,000 |
$24.6 |
|
7. |
Deliver Us from Evil |
$4,700,000 |
$25.0 |
|
8. |
Maleficent |
$4,169,000 |
$222.0 |
|
9. |
Begin Again |
$2,935,000 |
$5.9 |
|
10. |
Jersey Boys |
$2,510,000 |
$41.7 |
Hit the jump for more.
Like I said in yesterday's box office report, it was no surprise that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes took the top spot, but since it's been so well-received critically, that's a nice cherry on top. The real test will be in how it performs over the next couple of weeks, which see the debuts of an animated family-friendly film, a low-budget horror sequel, and two action flicks with big names in the lead. The critically panned Cars spin-off Planes did enough box office business to necessitate a sequel, Planes: Fire & Rescue, which was originally thought to be bound for home video but will get a theatrical release next week. The Purge did quite well in its debut, helped by the ridiculous margins that come with a reported $3 million production budget. The Purge: Anarchy may not nab the top spot, but it doesn't need to in order to secure a good payday.
The real contenders come in the week of July 25th, in which fan-favorites Dwayne Johnson leads the mythological action-adventure picture Hercules, and Scarlett Johansson kicks ass in the Luc Besson thriller, Lucy. Perhaps these two will knock each other down enough for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to remain on top, thanks to word of mouth.
Speaking of that, Richard Linklater's coming-of-age drama Boyhood made a strong debut, bringing in an average of almost $72,000 in each of its five theaters. The strong critical support for this ambitious bit of filmmaking should help to draw in audiences when it expands next weekend.
[Box office numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo.]