‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ emerged victorious over alien robots as the film took in $73 million over the weekend. The film surpassed studio expectations which put it around the $55 to $60 million mark. The debut blew its predecessor ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ out of the water which earned $54 million during its opening weekend back in 2011. ‘Dawn’ also took in $31.1 million in 26 international markets for a global total of $104.1 million. Not bad for a bunch of animated gun wielding apes on horses.
With the arrival of ‘Dawn’, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ fell to second place after 2 weeks on top. The film took in $16.5 million and pushed the film past the $200 million mark domestically.
Melissa McCarthy’s character comedy ‘Tammy’ earned another $12.9 million over the weekend and has earned $57.3 million. It is expected to finish out around the $80 million mark.
‘22 Jump Street’ is still hanging on tight as the comedy earned another $6.7 million and earns a domestic total of $171.9 million. It passed ‘Bridesmaids’ $169 million haul and is already one of the highest grossing R-rated comedies of all time.
Rounding out the top five this week is Dreamworks’ ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2′ which earned another $6 million.
Next week ‘Apes’ hopes to survive ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ and ‘Sex Tape’ when they hit theaters.