Wes Ball’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” soared to the top of the box office charts during its opening weekend, exceeding expectations as Hollywood braces for a summer of uncertainty.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is the fourth title in the franchise that began in 2011 with “Rise of the Plnet of the Apes,” in 2011. The 20th Century Studios film debuted in more than 4,000 theaters starting last Wednesday and grossed $56.5 million in domestic box office sales and $72.5 million overseas as of Sunday.
The action science fiction’s initial success is in-part thanks to the heavy turnout by younger and older males, per the Hollywood Reporter. It cost about $160 million to produce, less than the two $190 million “Apes” films, Variety reported.
The film takes place generations into the future after Caesar’s—played by Andy Serkis—reign, where apes are the dominant species and humans live in the shadows. It follows the story of a young ape named Noa, played by Owen Teague, and his journey with a young woman named Mae, played by Freya Allan, as the two explore what the future will look like for the two species.
It comes shortly after the underperformance of Universal’s “The Fall Guy,” which debuted earlier this month at a disappointing $27.7 million in its first weekend, falling short of the expected $40 million opening weekend. As of Sunday, the action comedy grossed just over $49.5 million.
“The Fall Guy,” starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, was expected to be the potential spark the movie theater business needed to get people back inside theaters and usher in a profitable summer.
Gosling and Blunt were at the epicenter of last summer’s “Barbenheimer” frenzy that brought in hundreds of millions for Hollywood with the release of Warner Bros.’s “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer.” The two films made a combined $235 million during their opening weekend, and more than $2 billion in worldwide sales last summer.
The global box office was estimated to have reached a more than 30 percent gain in 2023 from the year prior, but that number still falls double digits behind the attendance numbers of the last three years before the pandemic, Deadline reported.
The movie theater industry is also faced with the competition of streaming services across the world, while tech companies with large balance sheets are becoming increasingly dominate in the field, experts say.