The Apes rule Friday's box office as Matt Reeves' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes dominates the competition. That being said, its Friday debut is nowhere near that of this week's second place film's opening total; Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, pulled in over $41 million in its debut just a couple of weeks ago. These numbers appear to be par for the course of 2014's summer box office, which has been under-performing compared to recent years. With praise raining down on Dawn from critics and fans alike, it's possible that positive word of mouth could help keep it atop the box office for the rest of the month. Hit the jump for more on its chances, as well as the rest of Friday's box office report.

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Since Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was the only heavy hitter opening this weekend, it's no surprise that they're the tops. We'll have to see how the weekend plays out for the final total, which will also give us a barometer of sorts for how the sequel will perform in the coming weeks. Next week will be the month's biggest test as Planes: Fire & Rescue, Sex Tape, and The Purge: Anarchy all open in wide release. If Dawn survives that week, it will have to weather the might of Dwayne Johnson as Hercules and Scarlett Johansson as Lucy on July 25th. If it's still on top by August, I'd be very surprised if Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't knock it off.

Now, while this summer's biggest movies may not be breaking any box office records overall, there are a number of smaller films out there that you should most definitely seek out. Opening in limited release this weekend is Richard Linklater's ambitious coming-of-age drama, Boyhood, starring Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, and Ellar Coltrane, filmed over the course of 12 years. Read up on Matt's review of the film here, and check it out when it expands into more theaters next weekend. Another new release that's getting critical love is Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens' comedy Land Ho!, an adventure-comedy following a pair of elderly ex-brothers-in-law on a bawdy road trip through Iceland. You don't see that every day.

Here's Friday's top five. Be sure to return tomorrow when we have the weekend estimates and a rundown of the top ten:

Title

Friday

Total

1.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

$27,700,000.00

$27.7

2.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

$4,832,000.00

$197.4

3.

Tammy

$4,040,000.00

$48.5

4.

22 Jump Street

$2,050,000.00

$167.3

5.

Earth to Echo

$1,760,000.00

$20.9

All box office numbers come courtesy of Box Office Mojo.