Apes Together Strong: ‘War For The Planet Of The Apes’ Crushes ‘Spider-Man’ In Weekend Box Office

Weekend box office numbers are in, and War for the Planet of the Apes has crushed Spider-Man: Homecoming by $11 million. It was the opening weekend for Planet of the Apes, and the second for Homecoming. Estimations for the new film were projected to be about $10 million higher than reported, but this weekend’s earnings were more than respectable.

War did slightly better than its original film – Rise of the Planet of the Apes – earning just over $56 million this weekend in 4,022 theaters as reported by Box Office Mojo. Rise garnered $54 million in 2011 to start the franchise. The second film in the trilogy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, is the series big winner for weekend opener with a staggering $72 million in 2014.

While War beat out Homecoming this past weekend, its opening numbers didn’t even compare to Spider-Man’s. The newest Spidey flick earned over $117 million in its first weekend, but dropped dramatically for week two as War took the reins. Homecoming’s second week rounded out at $45 million.

Coming in at third for the weekend was Despicable Me 3, earning just under $19 million. Gru’s third film is in its third week, and has grossed a total of $187 million in just under a month.

Can War surpass its predecessor in lifetime domestic gross? That remains to be seen, but the film has a lot going for it which could garner enough steam to do so. Dawn earned over $208 million domestically during its duration in theaters, and Rise only earned $176 million in its lifetime. However, both films triumphed overseas with Rise earning $305 million, and Dawn bringing in an impressive $502 million.

War is currently boasting a 95 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 88 percent audience score. This is the highest rated film of the franchise with Rise and Dawn earning 81 percent and 90 percent respectively. These impressive reviews could be what War needs to earn the big bucks and topple over Dawn‘s lifetime international gross of $710 million.

War‘s impressive $54 million gross has landed it in the number 10 spot for best opening weekend of 2017 thus far, beating out films like Cars 3 and Alien: Covenant. With reviews and an impressive international franchise history, War might have what it takes to be the most successful film in the trilogy.

War for the Planet of the Apes is in theaters everywhere and stars Woody Harrelson, Steven Zahn, and Andy Serkis as Caesar.

[Featured Image by 20th Century Fox]