Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Another strong day for Fox's Twentieth Century Fox's prequel Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes which scored a $19.2M Saturday (only -3% from Friday, indicating word of mouth was good about those CGI animals and Andy Serkis). That makes for a 3-day weekend of $53M, so very much more than the $35M which Hollywood expected. No doubt about it: origins story movies are working this summer if they're done as well as this and X-Men: First Class which was another prequel on a Fox franchise. The other major studio new release, Universal's The Change-Up, surprisingly ticked up (+8%) from Friday for $5.2M Saturday but that's still a very disappointing $14M weekend.
Full analysis and more numbers coming...





SATURDAY AM, 4TH UPDATE: Twentieth Century Fox's prequel Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is leaping to an easy box office lead in 3,648 North American theaters. Hollywood initially thought the origins story with digital animals, Andy Serkis, and James Franco would follow the same trajectory as last weekend's Cowboys & Aliens which went on to a $36.4M Friday-Saturday-Sunday. But, remember, that pic got Smurf-ed. The far better reviewed Apes is faring stronger with a very healthy $19.7M Friday (including a low-key $1.254M midnights in only 1,124 locations) for a projected $50M weekend or even higher. Its CinemaScore was an 'A-' and exit polls showed males making up 54% of the audience which was 59% at or over age 25. Nice win for former News Corp No. 2-turned-showbiz producer Peter Chernin and his film lieutenant Dylan Clark. "Phenomenal opening validating a sensational marketing effort led by Oren Aviv and Tony Sella," a Fox exec gushed to me Friday night.

And that's without the hype and pedigree of DreamWorks/Universal's Cowboys & Aliens which fell -64% from last Friday to 3rd place this week but at half the budget ($93M, or so Fox claims). Sony Pictures' The Smurfs held -55% for 2nd place.

But this weekend's other major studio release, Universal's The Change-Up, is bottoming in 4th place with $4.7M Friday and just an estimated $13.4M for the weekend from 2,913 venues. This truly isn't Ryan Reynolds' summer of stardom after the collapse of Green Lantern here and abroad. It's a disastrous start considering that stars like Reynolds are supposed to open movies to at least $20M. "It's disappointing. We're kind of confounded by it," a Uni exec tells me about the raunchy comedy with a $50M budget from the director of Wedding Crashers and writers of The Hangover. "This movie tested unbelievably well and played like the best R-rated comedies we have." But reviews have hammered this lame body-switching premise. Full analysis and refined numbers coming. Overall moviegoing this weekend looks like $150M, which is up +12% from last year.

Here's the Top 10:

1. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (Fox) NEW [3,648 Theaters]
Friday $19.7M, Estimated Weekend $50M
2. The Smurfs - 3D (Sony) Week 2 [3,395 Theaters]
Friday $5.9M (-55%), Estimated Weekend $18M, Estimated Cume $73M
3. Cowboys & Aliens (DreamWorks/Universal) Week 2 [3,754 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M (-64%), Estimated Weekend $15.6M, Estimated Cume $66.6M
4. The Change-Up (Universal) NEW [2,913 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M, Estimated Weekend $13.4M
5. Captain America - 3D (Marvel/Disney/Paramount) Week 3 [3,620 Theaters]
Friday $3.7M, Estimated Weekend $13M, Estimated Cume $143.2M
6. Crazy, Stupid, Love (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,020 Theaters]
Friday $3.7M (-43%), Estimated Weekend $11.5M, Estimated Cume $41.6M
7. Harry Potter/Hallows Pt 2 - 3D (Warner Bros) Week 4 [3,175 Theaters]
Friday $3.3M, Estimated Weekend $12M, Estimated Cume $342.6M
8. Friends With Benefits (Sony) Week 3 [2,398 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Estimated Weekend $4.5M, Estimated Cume $49.3M
9. Horrible Bosses (New Line/Warner Bros) Week 5 [2,025 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Estimated Weekend $4.5M, Estimated Cume $105M
10. Transformers 3 - 3D (Paramount) Week 6 [1,854 Theaters]
Friday $850K, Estimated Weekend $3.3M, Estimated Cume $344.5M