Audiences went bananas on Friday for the latest sequel in the simian saga, as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” ruled the box office with a $27.7 million opening.
“Dawn” is on its way to a big $70 million weekend debut, placing it well ahead of its predecessor, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which bowed to $54.8 million in 2011. That film went on to gross $176.6 million domestically.
“Dawn” stars Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman and Andy Serkis.
Michael Bay's “Transformers: Age of Extinction” came in a distant second place, picking up another $4.8 million. The film has so far earned a huge $197.3 domestically, and should be passing the $200 million mark sometime today.
The fourth film in the series, it stars Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor and Stanley Tucci.
The Melissa McCarthy comedy “Tammy” picked up another $4 million for the bronze. Its North American total stands at a decent $48.4 million.
Holdover “22 Jump Street,” reuniting Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Ice Cube, scored $2 million, brining its total to $167.3 million. The first film topped out at $138 million domestically.
“Earth to Echo” phone home for fifth place finish, earning $1.7 million. It has so far earned just $20.8 million.
On the smaller side of things, both Dinesh D'Souza's documentary “America” and Richard Linklater's acclaimed “Boyhood” are having strong weekends. The latter earned a huge $102,161 from just five theaters (a per-theater average of $20,432). It opens wider next weekend.
Look for complete weekend estimates Sunday on HitFix.