Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was the big winner at the box office this past weekend. Matt Reeves' film brought in $72.6M, surpassing expectations for a $60M opening.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes also performed better than
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which opened with a total of $54.8M in 2011.
Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox, told Variety: "It's one of those rare times when critics and audiences agree and the confluence created a perfect storm for a phenomenal opening. A lot of the movies over the last couple of weeks have been received on the tepid side, shall we say, so the market was ripe for a high quality, visually stunning film."
Richard Linklater's new film,
Boyhood, opened in five theaters in Los Angeles and New York and grossed $359,000. This is the second highest per-screen average of the year after Wes Anderson's
The Grand Budapest Hotel.
TOP 10 CHART
1.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 1/3,967, Fox, $72.6 million.
2.
Transformers: Age of Extinction, 3/3,913, Paramount, $16.5 million, -55%, $209 million.
3.
Tammy, 2/3,465, Warner Bros./New Line, $12.9 million, -40%, $57.4 million.
4.
22 Jump Street, 5/2,811, Sony/MGM, $6.7 million, -32%, $172 million.
5.
How to Train Your Dragon 2, 5/2,885, Fox/DWA, $5.9 million, -35%, $152.1 million.
6.
Earth to Echo, 2/3,230, Relativity, $5.5 million, -34%, $24.6 million.
7.
Deliver Us From Evil, 2/3,049, Sony, $4.7 million, -52%, $25 million.
8.
Maleficent, 7/2,077, Disney, $4.2 million, -32%, $222 million.
9.
Begin Again, 3/939, The Weinstein Co., $2.9 million, +134%, $5.3 million.
10.
Jersey Boys, 4/1,968, Warner Bros., $2.5 million, -51%, $41.7 million.
Note: The original
Planet of the Apes movies are also available on Blu-ray via a
5-Film Collection.