Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes beating expectations for a $50 million plus open

In a nice piece of good news for exhibitors and studios, audiences are checking out to see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in theatres, with Deadline reporting that it’s on track for an opening north of $50 million. That’s about on par with industry projections and better than the $40 million-plus we expected. That’s similar to the openings for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes, which opened with $54.8 million and $56.2 million, respectively. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes did much bigger business, with a $72 million opening, but that was seen as a one-off.

While the $50-55 million is undoubtedly softer than those other movies if you adjust it for inflation, the industry has changed in recent years. The Fall Guy had a disastrous opening last weekend despite great reviews. Hollywood and exhibitors are feeling the pinch, especially in a summer with very few surefire hits (outside of Deadpool and Wolverine) due to the production shutdown with the strikes last year. As a result, a $50 million-plus opening is considered a huge win for Disney and bodes well for them continuing the franchise if the global box office is good.

Meanwhile, The Fall Guy, as expected, will slip to second place, with Deadline estimating a weekend in the $14-15 million range, which means the movie only fell about 50% week-to-week, which isn’t bad but isn’t amazing either. If it had an opening in the 40-50 million range, a 50% decline would have been great, but the soft opening means the movie will undoubtedly end up as a money loser for the studio (sadly). It may not even hit $80 million domestically.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a full breakdown of the weekend box office. In the meantime, have any of you checked out Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes this weekend? Let us know in the comments!