Weekend projections: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes hits $56.5 million

At 56 years old, the Planet of the Apes franchise is the 13th-longest-running franchise in movie history, by our reckoning, and ranks fourth to Godzilla, Batman, and James Bond among franchises that have spawned 10 or more films. Like those others, subtle evolution while keeping true to the fundamentals of the franchise is what keeps audiences coming back, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has managed to pull off that trick again this weekend, with 20th Century Studios projecting $56.5 million for the weekend, a fraction higher than War for the Planet of the Apes’ debut in 2017.

Here’s how the weekend numbers look as of Sunday morning (click on the image for the full chart of films reporting so far)…

The audience for Kingdom this weekend skewed male, at 60% of the audience, but with broad reach across age groups: 31% under 25, 28% 25 to 34, and 41% 35 and older. That’s a bit younger than the audience for The Fall Guy last weekend, and goes some of the way towards explaining its better outcome. Being part of an established franchise helps of course, even though this is the start of a new series of movies. This opening suggests the planned trilogy will go ahead.

Internationally, the apes are doing well too, with a total of $72.5 million so far. China leads the way with $11.4 million (steeply down from the $112.4 million earned there by War for the Planet of the Apes). Other notable territories so far are France, $7.1m; Mexico, $6.4m; UK, $4.8m, Korea, $3.2m; Australia, $2.7m; Brazil, $2.6m; Germany, $2.2m; Spain, $2.2m; and Indonesia, with $1.9 million.

The fact that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is coming in around 15% ahead of our model’s Friday-morning prediction suggests that word of mouth is good. The same can be said of The Fall Guy, which is down 51% in its second weekend. Alas, that’s not enough to make up for its slow start, but bodes reasonably well for the film doing well through Memorial Day weekend. Seven films in the top ten are topping the model’s expectations, which is an encouraging sign that people are returning to theaters.

The one real disappointment this weekend is Not Another Church Movie, which will miss the top 10 with around $360,000.

– Studio weekend projections

– All-time top-grossing movies in North America

– All-time top-grossing movies worldwide

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Bruce Nash, bruce.nash@the-numbers.com