Overall, the movie industry seems to be at a bit of a lull, box office-wise, with ticket sales down 6% from last year. But that didn’t stop Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes from dominating for the second week in a row. Its predecessor, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes , had everything going against it. But with heart, a strong narrative, and a fantastic performance from Andy Serkis, it managed to wow critical and everyday viewers alike. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes continued in this positive direction, and the response has thus far been overwhelmingly positive.
The film managed to snatch a positive review from us , as well as from 91% of other critics, bringing in a certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with well over 200 reviews being counted. And even more interesting is the fact that Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is only the second flick this summer, behind Transformers: Age Of Extinction, to stay at number 1 for more than one weekend.
Following its $70 million bank in its opening weekend, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes ‘ past weekend resulted in a 50% drop to $36 million. At a glance, this doesn’t sound too impressive. A 50% drop on paper sounds like a lot of money. However, according to Box Office Mojo , other blockbuster films like The Amazing Spider-man 2 , X-Men: Days Of Future Past , and Transformers: Age Of Extinction tend to drop 61% on their second weekends. When putting it like that, things don’t sound half bad. Needless to say word of mouth is living strong, and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes will likely go down as one of the most successful installments of the franchise. With its origins being tied back to the 1968 Charlton Heston film, Planet Of The Apes , it would have been easy for it to have been a complete mess, trying too hard to connect itself to its predecessors rather than telling a single story. Luckily for us, Apes went with the latter approach, and to encouraging results.
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes managed to beat out the likes of The Purge: Anarchy , the sequel to the popular horror/thriller The Purge , which came out last year, and Sex Tape , the new comedy film starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, both of which had disappointing turnouts.
Will Apes manage to hold onto the crown for a third week? This coming week’s stiffest competition, apart from Lucy , comes in the form of Hercules , Paramount and MGM’s new take on the classic tale starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and if Adobe is to continue its prediction streak , it is one that is sure to flop. With this in mind, will Apes make enough to retain the title? Only time will tell.
