Box Office: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Climbs to No. 1 With $56 Million Debut

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Primates ruled over the North American box office as “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” collected $56.5 million in its first weekend of release.

Those ticket sales were a hair above early projections of $50 million to $55 million and were easily enough to tower over the nonexistent competition. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” opened roughly even with two of the three prior installments in the rebooted franchise, landing behind only 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (a series-best $72 million) and ahead of 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” ($56.2 million) and 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” ($54.8 million). “The weekend figure is roughly average for the genre, but average here is based on the biggest action films of all time,” says David A.

Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “This is an excellent opening.” An opening that’s in line with projections is great and all, but Gross says the exhibition industry is still waiting for “something to jolt the market and electrify summer moviegoing.” Right now, the domestic box office is down roughly 22% from 2023 and 42% from 2019.

In the coming weeks and months, theater owners are relying on tentpoles like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Inside Out 2” to crush expectations and salvage the summer season.