Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is presently poised to rule the box office again.
Although there are two fairly big motion pictures headed to theaters this weekend, Matt Reeves’ second installment of the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise should easily dominate the competition. In other words, humans don’t stand a chance.
According to The Hollywood Reporter , Dawn should end up generating a healthy $30 million over the next three days. Early reports suggest that the flick already earned $10 million on Friday. While this is down considerably from last weekend’s total, Apes should earn enough to effortlessly crush its cinematic adversaries.
One of the new flicks battling Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for the top spot at the North American box office is the Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel comedy Sex Tape . While the movie could serve as a decent alternative to the aforementioned big-budget spectacle, a slew of lousy reviews may ultimately keep this endeavor from making a ton of cash.
For example, Star Tribune writer Colin Covert opines :
“There’s not much to this pratfalling exercise in futility that we haven’t seen before except for a flash of Cameron Diaz’s bare rump. And that is hardly an experience worth 100 minutes of your one and only life. The film appears to have been written backward, title first, then a wet string of comic situations and one-liners, story last.”
Also fighting Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for box-office dominance is writer-director James DeMonaco’s The Purge: Anarchy , the follow-up to his surprise 2013 hit The Purge . Unfortunately for Universal Pictures, it’s unlikely that cinematic lightning will strike twice. At this pace, reaching the original’s $34 million opening is a pipe dream.
In short: The latest Planet of the Apes flick shouldn’t have much trouble swatting its competition away from the throne this weekend. What’s more, the sequel is pulling in some decent numbers overseas as well. Box Office Mojo reports that the flick’s foreign total presently stands at a modest $32 million , a figure that’s sure to grow as the weekend progresses. When combined with its domestic gross, it’s apparent that Apes shouldn’t have any trouble recouping its hefty $170 million price tag before leaving theaters
Are you planning to catch Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on the big screen over the weekend? Do you think any of the new releases have a chance of dethroning director Matt Reeves’ acclaimed sci-fi flick at the box office?
[Image via 20th Century Fox]
