Box Office: Rise of the Change-Up of the Apes
Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 5:07PM The relaunch or prequel or whatever you'd like to call it to the 43 year old Planet of the Apes franchise was buoyed by... well, we're not sure what it was buoyed by exactly. The film is unexpectly good but given that neither reviews nor "quality" generally factor in to first weekend grosses, it must be the familiar brand appeal. Perhaps enough time has passed since Tim Burton's awful remake that people were interested again? Expect the prequel to hold really well next weekend. Second weekends are when quality or perceptions thereof are much more influential. Word of Mouth, you know. I'll demonstrate: Go see it!
box office top ten (actual grosses)
01 RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES new $54.8
02 THE SMURFS $20.7 (cum $75.9)
03 COWBOYS AND ALIENS $15.7 (cum $67.3)
04 THE CHANGE-UP new $13.5
05 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER [review] $13 (cumulative $143.2)
06 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART TWO [review] $12.4 (cum $343)
07 CRAZY STUPID LOVE [your take] $12 (cum $42.1)
08 FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS $4.6 (cum $48.5)
09 HORRIBLE BOSSES $4.5 (cum $105.1)
10 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON $3 (cum $344.2)
Discussables: The Smurfs held fairly well reminding us once again that parents just don't read reviews and leave it up to the kids. That 56% drop for Cowboys & Aliens, though not uncommon for a film's second week, is not good news for a film that was supposed to be a very big deal this summer. The huge budget, nearly double the size of say Planet of the Ape's is more weight on its shoulders. (Here's some theorizing on what went wrong.) Crazy Stupid Love had the best legs of the top ten, barely taking a hit with only a 35% drop. In other words: people like the film. Ryan Reynolds continues to have a lackluster summer. Green Lantern underperformed and The Change-Up wasn't really packing them in either on opening weekend. That said, those two openings are still better than what he usually gets out of the gate, when it's his name as the principal draw. Not that he's actually been the principle player all that often. Time for a reteaming with Sandra Bullock, right?
Among this week's limited release big market happenings transgendered drama Gun Hill Road had the fullest houses with the reportedly epically misogynistic Bellflower just behind. Miranda July's The Future and Dominic Cooper objectification-fest The Devil's Double both added several theaters to their count. Are they open near you? I don't know why I haven't seen them yet but I keep falling further and further behind. Must spend entire day in theater soon.
What did you see this weekend?
Reader Comments (21)
Saw Apes and really liked it. And it's a case where critics and word-of-mouth were actually instrumental in me seeing this since I went from "nope, not seeing this film, looks bad." to "wow, i need to find time to see it opening weekend!"
Now, I'm spreading the good word... everyone, go see it!
I saw Public Speaking on DVD for the second time. We so need more people like Fran Lebowitz these days...
Ugh. I can't handle how much I didn't like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Won't some one join me? I feel so alone.
I have zero interest in The Devil's Double, despite a teeny crush on Dominic Cooper. I've watched the trailer about five times trying to decide to care about it, but I just can't. *shrug*
What Heston movie was that on TV in the movie (Jamie Harris -not Tom Felton- watching in the ape sanctuary)? It wasn't 1968's Planet of the Apes, was it?
Can we expect soon your updated Oscar predictions?
I actually liked "Apes" more than I thought I would. After so many sequels and a remake which is up there with the worst I've ever seen, I really didn't think this franchise had any more steam to run on. But they were actually very clever and seemed to come at this movie from a different creative angle. Great blog man!
The reviews were the ONLY reasons I went to go see Apes, especially Sasha Stone's rave. She was right, it an excellent and surprising summer movie. Tree of Life still gets Best Of '11 So Far honors but this was the best big studio movie all summer, easily. And what a fun time I had!
For this month, I definitely wanna catch The Future. Love Miranda July and the reviews have been good.
On Netflix, I had myself an introductory Isabelle Adjani highlights fest and watched (for the first time) The Story of Adele H. and Camille Claudel. Adele featured an absolutely fantastic performance from her and CC was way too long and she really didn't shine until the last 30-45 mins of the 2:40 running time. Queen Margot's next but I'm not sure about the running time (after CC!) and Possession, apparently her best performance of them all, isn't available at all so I'm gonna have to scope that out elsewhere. I'm thinking of doing the Herzog Nosferatu but I'm not sure how significant her role in that is. Suggestions?
Oh and, on Netflix as well, I FINALLY got around to watching (breath) The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom. Holly Hunter was AMAZING, holy hell!
@RJ: You are not alone. I didn't dislike the film, but I certainly wouldn't attach any label to it that may indicate any form of greatness. My Facebook review:
"The apes have more personality and nuance than any of their human counterparts, most of whom are nothing more than one-dimensional types or ideas -- which is why almost all of the actors phone it in. Logic is forsaken any time plot needs to be advanced, but the climax does provide a fair share of thrills."
Mark -- Queen Margot is FAN-TAS-TIC. don't worrya bout the running time.
Mark you can always watch the Don Ross written remake of Diabolique (1996).
Without comparing it to the 1954 version, 1996's Diabolique is absolutely terrible and I wish it only on my worst enemies.
Queen Margot is great, and you should also check out Bon voyage (2003), and she's very good in the interesting Skirt Day (2008).
*Don Roos
I always write his name as Ross out of habit.
Queen Margot is great and Vincent Pérez full frontal just glorious!
That's a pretty succinct summation of my problems with it, TroyH. I think all of those problems just bothered me a little more than you.
I was lucky enough to take in a screening of Todd Haynes' Poison. Hoping to catch The Future, and maybe Apes, real soon.
Finally saw Crazy, Stupid, Love this weekend and was not disappointed. The entire cast was great (except for the son in love with the babysitter. I seriously wanted to slap that kid) and Ryan Gosling was just YUMMY. The scene in the backyard where everything comes to a head had me in stitches. Really not sure about Planet of the Apes. The great reviews almost make me want to go see it, but I can't help but think that I just won't care for it, which saddens me for reasons I don't quite understand.
Still waiting to be able to see Beginners. It's been at the local arthouse cinema for a few weeks, but always at really bad times. I just hope I don't miss it. The next movie that I have any modicum of excitement for is The Help, and then Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. Seriously hope that one is a good Summer chiller along the lines of The Others. We haven't had one in a long time.
Thanks for all the Isabelle Adjani suggestions and comments. Definitely made me feel better about watching Queen Margot and I think I'll take some of the other suggestions and look those up as well.
Something Wild. Back when Ray Liotta was good and Melanie Griffiths was amazing. Loved it.
I'm really hating this summer movie season, though.
The Devil's Double looks like one of the ugliest films around...
I saw Crazy, Stupid Love this weekend and was not too impressed. Gosling was adorable and the babysitter intriguing but I found the movie as a whole depressing, eye-rolling at times (that scene at the son's graduation- yuck!), and not nearly as witty as it thought it was. I did love the line about New Balances though.