Disney and 20th Century’s KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES vaulted into first place with a three-day opening box office of $56.5M. All films this weekend earned $94.4M, compared to $100.8M from the same weekend last year which was paced by GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 which earned $62.0M in its second weekend.
Even though this year’s weekend 19 was 6% below the same weekend last year, the shortfall was an improvement after the last two weekends which saw year-over-year deficits of 33% for 4/26-4/28 and 53% for 5/3-5/5.
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is the tenth movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise, all released in the 20th Century. This is the first APES movie to be released under Disney’s ownership, after its 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which included the studio operations of 20th Century Fox.
The original PLANET OF THE APES premiered on February 8, 1968. That film was directed by Franklin James Schaffner who earned praise for subsequent work on PATTON (1970 – Academy Award for Best Director), NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA (1971), PAPILLON (1973), and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978).
The movie was based on the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle, with the movie adaptation written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling Charlton Heston was cast in the lead role of George Taylor, with support from Roddy McDowell as Dr. Cornelius, Kim Hunter as Dr. Zira and Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius.
While 20th Century Fox signed on to make the film, the insisted on trimming its production budget from $10.0M to $5.8M. The clever sci-fi story resonated with audiences at the height of the 1960’s space race, earning $32.6M at the box office. It became a beloved classic, spawning nine additional movies as well as books, comics, toys, merchandise, and video games.
Four sequels were produced in rapid succession between 1970 and 1973. Five movies in five years had the effect of exhausting most of the energy created by the first film. The fifth feature, BATTLE FOR PLANET OF THE APES, could manage a production budget of only $1.2M, and in its wake, the franchise was put on ice. 28 years later in 2001, the series reappeared with PLANET OF THE APES, directed by Tim Burton and starring Mark Wahlberg.
Since then, four more movies have been made, including the current release. PLANET OF THE APES is the longest-running sci-fi movie series in history, having earned over $2 billion at the worldwide box office. Here is a run-down of the box office performance of the top titles in the franchise.
Top-Performing PLANET OF THE APES Movies
- DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (7/11/2014) – Domestic Opening $72.6M, Domestic Total $208.6M, Worldwide Total $710.6M, Budget $170M
- PLANET OF THE APES (7/27/2001) – Domestic Opening $68.5M, Domestic Total $180.1M, Worldwide Total $362.2M, Budget $100M
- RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (8/5/2011) – Domestic Opening $54.8M, Domestic Total $176.8M, Worldwide Total $481.8M, Budget $93M
- WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (7/14/2017) – Domestic Opening $56.3M, Domestic Total $146.8M, Worldwide Total $490.7M, Budget $150M
- PLANET OF THE APES (2/8/1968) – Domestic Total $32.6M, Budget $5.8M
- KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (5/10/2024) – Domestic Opening $62.5M
The reboots have all been enormous successes, with the four films starting in 2001 taking the top four spots in the series. They have also been particularly popular with international audiences, accounting for 65% of the worldwide box office.
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is the fifth Apes movie of the reboots and is the direct sequel to WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES from 2017. The storyline picks up 300 years after the events of WAR, following a young chimpanzee named Noa who, with a human woman named Mae, embarks on a journey to determine the future of the planet.
The film is directed by Wes Ball (MAZE RUNNER trilogy) and stars Owen Teague (IT and IT CHAPTER TWO), Freya Allan (“The Witcher” on Netflix) Peter Macon (“The Orville” on Hulu), and William H. Macy (FARGO, BOOGIE NIGHTS). The film has received relatively positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, earning ratings of 81% from critics and 78% from audiences.
The film had a production budget of $160M which projects out to a target of $400M worldwide box office to reach profitability. The opening of $56.5M is the third highest among all the APES movies. Warner Bros. has had a terrific run as of late with GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE which is nearing an all-time high in domestic gross for the monster franchise.
GODZILLA X KONG rang up its totals in March and April, while schools were still in session. As more and more schools are leaving for the summer, teenagers are free to check out KINGDOM at their local theatres and sustain ticket sales over the weeks ahead.
THE FALL GUY finished in second place with an additional $13.7M, a drop of 51% from last weekend’s opening. After ten days, the action rom-com has grossed $49.7M, what some had expected it to earn in its opening weekend. With a total worldwide gross of $95.6M, it still has a long way to go to offset its pricey production budget of $125M.
In a best-case scenario, THE FALL GUY would tap into the same good fortune as ANYONE BUT YOU earlier this year, which wound up with $88.3M domestic and $219.5M worldwide over a 17-week run. And even though this makes ANYONE BUT YOU the top-earning rom-com of the post-pandemic era, the movie had only earned $24.8M domestic in its first 10 days, compared with $49.7M for THE FALL GUY. Unfortunately, Universal spent five times more to make THE FALL GUY than Sony did on ANYONE BUT YOU, which could result in a very different financial outcome for the two projects.
CHALLENGERS finished in third place with a weekend box office of $4.7M, a drop of only 38% from last weekend. After 17 days, the sports drama continues to pad its record-high gross for a tennis-themed movie, having earned $38.1M domestic and $63.5M worldwide. Like THE FALL GUY, CHALLENGERS will need to hustle in its remaining weeks to reach profitability, which we estimate will require $125M worldwide since Amazon/MGM invested $50M on its production.
TAROT finished in fourth place, with a weekend total of $3.5M and a decline of 47% from last week’s opening. After 10 days, Hollywood’s latest scary movie has earned $12.0M domestic and $16.7M worldwide. Due to its skinny $8M budget, this modest horror film will accomplish what other high-profile releases will not… make a profit.
GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE continues to run towards the record books by finishing in fifth place in its seventh week by selling $2.5M in additional box office. This brings its 45-day total to $191.8M domestic and $554.3M worldwide. The staying power of this film has been amazing as 16 more wide-release films have arrived in the domestic marketplace since this film premiered on 3/29. We expect that its top-five status will come to an end next weekend when three more titles will open in wide release. It still has a shot to set the record for the total domestic box office of any Godzilla movie, which was set in 2014 when GODZILLA earned $200.7M.
WHERE ARE WE AS OF 5/9
After 18 weeks, the 2024 year-to-date box office stands at 75% compared to those same weeks last year and 58% of the totals in 2019.