As a franchise film, Wes Ball's Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is a title born in a precarious position. The most recent run of Planet Of The Apes movies, known to fans as the Caesar Trilogy, definitively concluded as a narrative in 2017 with the release of Matt Reeves' War For The Planet Of The Apes, and the new 2024 blockbuster was created in the hopes of launching a new era for the canon. With new talent both in front of and behind the camera, there has been a hope for box office consistency – and today, it looks like that hope has been fulfilled.
Not only is Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes the new number one film in the domestic Top 10, but its opening weekend ticket sales are perfectly in line with the performance of the previous three movies in the series. Check out the full chart below and join me after for analysis.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes* | $56,500,000 | $56,500,000 | N/A | 4,075 |
| 2. The Fall Guy | $13,700,000 | $49,697,000 | 1 | 4,008 |
| 3. Challengers | $4,684,276 | $38,073,862 | 3 | 2,609 |
| 4. Tarot | $3,450,000 | $12,015,000 | 4 | 3,104 |
| 5. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire | $2,525,000 | $191,821,000 | 5 | 2,531 |
| 6. Unsung Hero | $2,250,000 | $16,785,702 | 7 | 2,272 |
| 7. Kung Fu Panda 4 | $2,000,000 | $191,172,000 | 8 | 2,111 |
| 8. Civil War | $1,804,642 | $65,214,840 | 6 | 2,204 |
| 9. Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace | $1,500,000 | $486,619,546 | 2 | 2,700 |
| 10. Abigail | $1,100,000 | $24,753,000 | 9 | 1,641 |
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Performs Up To Franchise Expectations
In case you haven't noticed, movie-going changed greatly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the last four years, the industry has been in recovery mode and waiting for ticket sales to bounce back to where things stood prior to 2020. This in mind, there's a sigh-of-relief feeling that accompanies a franchise title demonstrating consistency, and that's exactly what we have this weekend with the performance by Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.
According to The Numbers, the tenth film in the Planet Of The Apes franchise (counting Tim Burton's 2001 remake) made $56.5 million in the last three days, echoing the draw of the Caesar Trilogy. While Matt Reeves' Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes from 2014 exists as a bit of an outlier with its franchise-best opening weekend, having made $72.6 million in its debut, the new movie is off to a better start than both War For The Planet Of The Apes ($56.3 million) and Rupert Wyatt's Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ($54.8 million).
The 2024 blockbuster has been building up buzz since the start of the month, with positive first screening reactions followed by mixed-positive reactions from critics (I personally gave Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes a 3.5 star review), and these box office results show that audiences were really excited to see a new installment of this franchise. While Andy Serkis was a key consultant behind the scenes, he and Matt Reeves have moved on to the world of The Batman – but still, movie-goers are hyped to see a new story set in the exciting sci-fi world that is brought to life with stunning digital artistry.
There are some questions about sustainability of success in the weeks ahead. War For The Planet Of The Apes got high marks from audiences in 2017, including an "A-" grade from CinemaScore surveys and an 84 percent approval rating from movie-goers on Rotten Tomatoes, but it still fell from first place to fourth place in its sophomore weekend with a 63 percent drop (when it was notably in competition with Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk). Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes got softer results from those aforementioned metrics (a "B" grade from CinemaScore and a 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), and it will be dealing with three new wide releases arriving on the big screen this Friday.
Despite its second week drop, War For The Planet Of The Apes still made $146.9 million domestically by the end of its run and $489.6 million worldwide – and if the sequel can end up doing that kind of business, the future will be bright. Wes Ball has discussed ambitions to launch a new Planet Of The Apes trilogy with Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, and hopefully its numbers will inspire executives at 20th Century Studios to soon give the green light to the next installment of his vision.
The Fall Guy Has An OK Second Weekend, Crosses $100 Million Worldwide
As noted in my box office column last week, David Leitch's The Fall Guy didn't exactly set the world on fire in its opening weekend – and that was a pretty big deal considering that the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt-starring celebration of stunt performers was the title positioned to kick off the summer blockbuster season for 2024. Given that it only made $28.5 million in its first three days, there was every expectation that it would be bumped down to second place by Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes... but it can be said that there are silver linings to grasp.
Silver Lining #1 is that The Fall Guy didn't totally see its ticket sales fall off a cliff in its second weekend – which was possible given that it's a title that targets the same demographics as the new Planet Of The Apes film. Compared to its debut, the movie about making movies saw its numbers drop 51 percent – adding another $13.7 million to its domestic haul.
Silver Lining #2 is that the film has hit its first box office milestone (albeit in far from record time). Thanks to ticket sales both at home and abroad, The Fall Guy has now entered the nine-figure club, having made $103.7 million to date. That means it is now the twelfth biggest blockbuster of 2024 thus far – having made more than SJ Clarkson's Madame Web ($100.3 million) and Alex Garland's Civil War ($103.1 million), but less than Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.'s musical remake of Mean Girls ($104.4 million). That looks good... until you remember that The Fall Guy had a much bigger budget than all of those productions, with Deadline pinning the figure between $125-150 million.
What will happen with The Fall Guy, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, and the rest of the titles in the Top 10 when Sam Taylor-Johnson's Back To Black, John Krasinski's IF, and Renny Harlin's The Strangers: Chapter 1 arrive in theaters on Friday? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to check out the box office results – and check out our 2024 Movie Release Calendar to discover all of the films set to be released between now and the end of the year.
