Disney/20th Century's 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” had a similar start at the box office like its Fox predecessors, making $56.5 million in North America from 4,075 screens and $129 million worldwide.
The total matches the $130 million earned by the 2017 film “War for the Planet of the Apes” excluding China, 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 adjusting for inflation.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is helping the box office 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 starts 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 are also questions about how well “Kingdom” can hold in the next few weeks. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it 80% and the audience gave it 79%, but the CinemaScore was a B. All three of the previous “Planet of the Apes” reboot films had received an A-.
However, “Kingdom” is holding up well over 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, 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 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 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.
