Box Office: The Rise of the Rise of...
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 5:13PM "Cesar is home"... at the top of the box office charts for a second week. The Help's first week bow is nothing to deny though, particularly as it's bound to have legs at the box office since it skews adult. And adults aren't as likely to storm theaters on opening weekend. Expect The Help to leap frog The Apes next weekend as Conan the Barbarian, Fright Night and One Day fight it out for dominance as newbies.
Box Office Dozen (estimates)
01 RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES $27.5 (cumulative $104.8)
02 THE HELP [review] $25.5 (cum $35.3)
03 FINAL DESTINATION 5 $18.4
04 THE SMURFS $13.5 (cum $101.5)
05 30 MINUTES OR LESS $13
06 COWBOYS AND ALIENS $7.6 (cum $81.4)
07 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER [review] $7.1 (cum $156.8)
08 CRAZY STUPID LOVE [your take] $6.9 (cum $55.4)
09 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART TWO [review] $6.8 (cum $356.9)
10 THE CHANGE-UP $6.2 (cum $25.7)
11 GLEE: THE 3D CONCERT MOVIE [review] $5.7
12 HORRIBLE BOSSES $2.4 (cum $110)
Talking Points:
Our 'Star Spangled Man' has entered the top ten of 2011 just behind a movie nobody seems to think was a hit: Kung Fu Panda 2. But how high will the Apes rise? After two weeks it's the 18th biggest grosser of the year. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, now on its last legs, will probably cross the $50 million mark this week. Well done Sony Pictures Classics!
What did you see this weekend? Or do you wait 'til Sunday night to hit the theaters?
Planet of the Apes, The Help, box office
Reader Comments (10)
This weekend I saw 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' which premiered here in Portugal this week.
It was surprisingly enjoyable, especially since I didn't care for the trailer and I have very limited patience for James Franco when he takes himself too seriously (I was one of the few that much preferred his toned-down work in 'Howl' to the showy '127 Hours'). Fortunately, the movie is very well aware that Franco and Freida are just there to be window-dressing/eye-candy and nothing else and lets Andy Serkis show'em how it's done.
It's miles away in quality from Gollum (well, duh) so I don't quite understand the Best Supporting Actor talk (also: he's THE lead, Franco is there what, thirty minutes in the whole movie?) but I fully support the logic behind Tapley's Special Achievement Oscar. If you REALLY need to reward it, do it there.
I also agree with the VFX Oscar frontrunner status the movie is currently enjoying and I wouldn't mind if the score by Patrick Doyle found some room, especially if they ignore Desplat's better work once again (since I can't see 'Ides of March' allowing him to be very showy).
Next week I'm dodging a bullet by not watching 'Cowboys & Aliens' (looks terrible; has anybody seen it?) but I'm going to sacrifice myself and watch my beloved Jason Bateman in another godawful comedy ('The Change-Up') - like Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow, I can't come up with a simple explanation as to why HUNDREDS of comic scripts are not piling up in their respective houses, be it for TV or movies.
I think that everyone knows of PLANET OF THE APES, so it is a property that can be sold but it needs positive press to get that ball rolling ... which it feels like it is getting. Im keen to watch the film AND buy the boxset of the other films to 'catch up'.
Simon
Three more new movies next week...wow...there is so much product out there right now. I don't remember there being so much to choose from back in the 80s/90s.
@Jorge: I've seen Cowboys and Aliens and it's pretty mediocre, so you're making the right move by avoiding it.
Anyway, I saw The Help & Final Destination 5 on Friday. The Help was mildly entertaining because of the actresses and the subject matter but the script was too cliche and overstuffed to allow the film to be anything more than that. As for Final Destination 5, it has a pretty good twist ending but the rest was crap (It's the same exact movie as the previous four but worse).
Jorge -- agreed that Cesar is not the Oscar worthy performance in the way that Gollum was but I wholeheartedly endorse Kris's special Oscar since Serkis is basically inventing this new artform (that you know a lot of future actors will do)
SoSueMe -- i read somewhere that FAR MORE movies coming out now than there were in decades past but i don't know where i read it or where the numbers are but yeah. Consider that each weekend brings one to three new wide releases and several limited runs.
Question to all, since my movie goer pals believe I am reading too deeply, or just plain insane. Did anyone else notice the reference in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes to Eisenstein's October, with the appearence (or what at first appeared to be) of the riderless horse in the scene on the Golden Gate Bridge?
I mean, both films are about revolution, I contend it was intentional.
I saw The Change-Up for my job. It's pretty dreadful. I only want good things for Leslie Mann; this is not one of those things. I re-watched Far from Heaven that night and liked much more than I did the first time.
Finally, I saw The Future last night, which I think doesn't really work, although I like a lot of what she's trying to do in it.
Just re-watched the Friday Night Lights series finale, so I'm typing through tears.
APES! friday. Mysteries of Lisbon - all 4.5 hours of it - Saturday. Talk about whiplash.
God, Steve Wilkos is such an asshole!
ROARK -- What did you think of MYSTERIES OF LISBON? (I'm asking since I'm guessing not many people have seen the 4 1/2 hours Raul Ruiz epic and they REALLY should because time flies by)