‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Rises to $56.5 Million Box Office Opening

Jeremy Fuster
·3 min read
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Disney/20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is rising to a similar start at the box office as its Fox predecessors, earning a $56.5 million opening weekend in North America from 4,075 screens, with a $129 million gross worldwide.

The global total matches the $130 million start — excluding China — for the 2017 film “War for the Planet of the Apes,” which opened to $56.2 million in North America. “Kingdom” is on its way to matching that predecessor’s $490 million global box office total before inflation adjustment.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is providing the box office with a much-needed boost after the weak start for Universal’s “The Fall Guy” last weekend, but it won’t entirely make up for the lack of a high-performing Marvel movie that usually kicks off the May slate. With Memorial Day weekend projections for the “Mad Max” prequel “Furiosa” topping out at $50 million over four days, “Apes” may have the highest opening for the month.

There’s also questions about how well “Kingdom” can hold over the next few weeks. Reception has been solid with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 80% critics approval and 79% from audiences, but the film received a B on CinemaScore. All three of the previous “Planet of the Apes” reboot films received an A-.

On the other hand, “Kingdom” is seeing solid holds within the weekend, dropping only 9% from Friday to Saturday. In 2017, “War for the Planet of the Apes” dropped 63% from its opening weekend, so a second weekend total higher than $20 million will be a win for Disney.

“The Fall Guy” is in second place, holding on to faint hopes of legging out past the break-even point with $13.7 million in its second weekend — a 51% drop from its poor $27.7 million opening. The action romcom now has totals of $49.7 million domestic and $103.7 million worldwide, still short of the film’s $125 million-plus production budget.

Amazon MGM’s “Challengers” is also trying to stretch its domestic total to at least reach its $55 million production budget, adding $4.6 million in its third weekend to bring its domestic total to $38 million. The film’s global total stands at $68.7 million, with Warner Bros. handling overseas distribution.

Sony/Screen Gems’ “Tarot” is in fourth with $3.4 million in its second weekend, giving the horror film a $12 million 10-day total against an $8 million budget. Warner Bros./Legendary’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” will hold on to a top 5 spot for one more weekend, adding $2.5 million as it now stands at $192 million domestic and $558.8 million worldwide.

Finally, A24 expanded the intimate thriller “I Saw the TV Glow” to 21 screens this weekend, adding $195,111 for a per theater average of $9,292 and a total of $367,765.

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