'Apes' Tops US Weekend B-O

AUG 8, 2011 - Rise of the Planet of the Apes swung in with a chest-beating debut, while The Change-Up was flung aside and The Smurfs stretched its lead over Cowboys & Aliens over the weekend.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes climbed to the top with an estimated US$54 million on approximately 5,400 screens at 3,648 locations, which ranked as the fifth highest-grossing August opening ever (but ninth normalised for ticket-price inflation). Among comparable movies, the franchise reboot's launch was superior to District 9's US$37.4 million and Terminator Salvation's US$42.6 million and close to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra's US$54.7 million (on the same weekend in 2009). It even grossed more than I, Robot's US$52.2 million (though sold fewer tickets) and was just a hair lower than X-Men: First Class's US$55.1 million earlier this summer.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Aug 5 - 7, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox) $54.0 million ($54.0 million) 1

2. (2) The Smurfs (Sony / Columbia) $21.0 million ($76.2 million) 2

3. (1) Cowboys & Aliens (Universal) $15.7 million ($67.4 million) 2

4. (-) The Change-Up (Universal) $13.5 million ($13.5 million) 1

5. (3) Captain America: First Avenger (Paramount) $13.0 million ($143.2 mil) 3