Box Office Actuals (8/5/11 - 8/7/11): The Apes "Rise" Again!

Information obtained via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

Landing with a higher than estimated $54.8 million, 20th Century Fox's relaunch of the "Planet Of The Apes" gave the studio their largest August opening of all time. Experts had projected the film to land in the mid-$40 million range, but a strong Friday and virtual repeat of business on Saturday saw the film blow away the predictions thrown at it.

Critics stood up for the film, its TomatoMeter at or near 80% in the days leading up to the film's release, and Time Magazine even declared the film the best of 2011 thus far. Plus, Fox was hoping that "Planet Of The Apes" fan sites and science-fiction movie bloggers would spread positive word-of-mouth and they were rewarded handsomely. Fox also did a nice job in prepping the film, striking a nice balance between the recognizable James Franco, the stunning visual effects work on the apes, and navigating the slippery slope of making sure audiences knew that this was not just a remake, but a complete overhaul and new beginning to the film franchise. Certainly, a decade removed from Tim Burton's failed 2001 attempt at the franchise, Fox had another generation of movie-goers to target with their strategies.

Rapidly, amongst reviewers, writers, and bloggers, talk turned to the performance of Andy Serkis in the film. Serkis, who has previously played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" franchise and King Kong in Peter Jackson's 2006 remake utilizing Motion-Capture technology, received accolades and some spirited Oscar buzz for bringing Caesar, the chimpanzee who serves as the focal point of the film, to life on screen. Serkis' work is extraordinary and in close ups and mid-range shots, the work by Jackson's studio, Weta Digital, is simply unparalleled. It should also be noted that each and every ape depicted in the film was generated via Motion-Capture technology, and although there might be some fair criticism at how the action sequences may look and feel on screen, there is so much detail and realism with these simians that Weta may have earned another Oscar come February.

But where does the film go from here? Burton's much-maligned 2001 film outgrossed this effort considerably on roughly the same budget. The issue is not whether "Rise" will be profitable with its $93 million production, as it has nearly achieved that total when counting worldwide numbers thus far (an additional $23.4 million already from overseas). As strong an opening as this is, the question turns to whether the film will have legs or not.

"Rise"'s prospects come with a tough weekend to analyze. The film is looking to hold strong against the horror/gore franchise, "Final Destination 5", the R-rated heist comedy, "30: Minutes Or Less", the inexplicable "Glee: The 3-D Concert Movie" and Buena Vista's early Oscar contender, "The Help", all opening wide and all optimistic for a big weekend. If "Rise" can hold on, it then likely succumb to Colin Farrell's "Fright Night 3D", which is looking to be a possible late Summer hit for Buena Vista.

"The Smurfs" distance themselves from "Cowboys and Aliens", Dominic Cooper and Brendan Gleeson lead their respective indies to big increases, and the R-rated comedy juggernaut crashes to a halt when "The Change-Up" fails to find a spark.

More analysis, The Weekend Breakdown, and The Top 40 after the cut!


THE CHANGE-UP

Well, I mean. I dunno. Eventually, the shine was going to come off of the 2011 Summer of R-Rated Comedies, but few expected that Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds' identity-switching comedy, "The Change-Up" would be the first of these efforts to fail (although our own Robert Hamer nailed this down expertly well!). While some films would kill for an opening of $13.5 million, this is viewed as a major disappointment for Universal, the writers of "The Hangover I and II", as well as for leading man Ryan Reynolds.

Ravaged by critics (and deservedly so...), "The Change-Up" seemed to run into the same territory that Universal's "Cowboys And Aliens" did with hard-working studio execs wondering what they could have done differently.

While "The Change-Up" is likely not going to be as problematic for the studio when all is said and done, it is unlikely to earn back its $52 million budget in domestic receipts and may likely fall in the $35-$40 million range when it clears out its theatrical run. Worse yet, all of the competition cited above in the "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" analysis dooms this film from having any traction in any subsequent weekends.

Perhaps the film's failure is that audiences had reached their saturation with R-rated adult comedic fare. 2011 has already delivered "The Hangover Part II", "Bridesmaids", "Horrible Bosses", "Bad Teacher", "Friends With Benefits", and even "Just Go With It" (PG-13 on appeal) and "No Strings Attached" from earlier in the year all made money for their studios. Is enough enough right now?

Perhaps, but a sub-20% TomatoMeter did not help, citations that the film is amongst the worst of the year, and word-of-mouth indicating that "the best parts are in the preview" may have cut the film off at the knees. Additionally, Universal were reportedly upset that the bawdy and sex-filled romp was tracking better with, and ultimately attended by more females than males.

This would seem to speak to the perception of Ryan Reynolds' appeal; however, he may now be perceived as someone who truly cannot draw money with his name on top of the title. Fair or not, the failure of "Green Lantern" was largely blamed on him and being the co-lead of the first R-rated comedic bomb of 2011 will not help his bankability going forward. Worse yet, his co-star Jason Bateman just saw his "Horrible Bosses" soar past $100 million in the same weekend.

THE SMURFS SURGE AHEAD OF THOSE COWBOYS AND ALIENS...

As early as Monday, Sony's "The Smurfs" pulled out its teflon coating and withstood horrible reviews to distance themselves from Universal's "Cowboys And Aliens", which barely kept the blue folks from #1 at the box office. "The Smurfs" saw a decent hold and declined 41.9%, banking another $20.7 million to raise its 10-day cumulative to $75.9 million. Overall, the film was become profitable on its $110 million production budget, as worldwide grosses have the film moving north of $130 million. Sony has announced production on "The Smurfs 2" and the film has an already announced release date of August 2, 2013. Set your calendars accordingly.

"Cowboys And Aliens" avoided the 60% drop most expected and tallied $15.7 for the weekend. Overall, the action/sci-fi hybrid has grossed $67.3 million in 10 days and that $163 million production budget looks like a mirage in the desert at this point.

SARAH'S KEY

Quietly, "Sarah's Key" continues to drop in to more and more cities and perform exceedingly well. The Kristin Scott Thomas-led World War II flashback drama gained 34 more locations, 67 sites overall, and increased business 49.4% with a nice per screen average to boot. The Weinstein Company are taking their time with the film and in 17 days of release the film has earned $1.3 million thus far in North America and nearly $15 million worldwide.

THE FUTURE

Performance artist and experimental filmmaker Miranda July saw a strong New York opening last weekend for "The Future" and Roadside Attractions added 17 more cities and had a great response. Her previous film, "Me And You And Everyone We Know" became a cult favorite in 2005 and won several Cannes prizes and was named the #5 film of the 2000s by Roger Ebert. Fans have waited a long, long time to see "The Future" and business surged 209% with wider, albeit limited, exposure.

Time will tell how wide the film will be pushed. The per screen average dipped much lower than expected and the film, starring July alongside Hamish Linklater, interweaves a love story, the adopting of a cat who eventually narrates the film, and changes to the space-time continuum in a mind-bending comedic adventure of sorts. Critics have embraced this film in equal measure to July's first, with an 82% TomatoMeter presently.

THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE / THE GUARD CONTINUE TO PERFORM STRONG...

Dominic Cooper continues to turn heads in his dual role at the heart of "The Devil's Double". Lionsgate moved the picture from 5 locations to 33 and business ramped up a strong 105.8%, with a healthy per screen average of $6,013.

Better yet where the results merited by Sony Pictures Classics rollout of "The Guard" starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. Strong word-of-mouth saw "The Guard" stand tall at 19 locations with an impressive $10,123 average per screen and a business uptick of more than 150%.

REMAINING TOP 12 FILMS

Holdovers "Captain America" and "Harry Potter" hung in fairly well against the arrival of those damn dirty "Apes". "Captain America" kept pace with "Thor" and dropped 40% in its third weekend, with an overall haul thus far of $143.2 million in 17 days. The film earned back its production budget of $140 million domestically in doing so. "Thor" had banked $145.3 in the same time frame.

"Harry Potter" nearly caught "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" as the year's biggest grossing film in North America. "Potter" had earned $343.1 million Sunday night while "Transformers" finished the weekend with $344.2 million. "Potter" did edge past "Transformers" by $200k on Monday night.

Comedies "Crazy, Stupid, Love." and "Horrible Bosses" held well, losing a little more than a third of their previous weekend's attendees. Perhaps, this had some significant pull away from "The Change-Up" as well. "Crazy, Stupid, Love." has banked $42.1 million on a $50 million budget and "Horrible Bosses", as stated flew past the $100 million milestone Thursday night, tripling its production budget of $35 million.

THE DISCOUNT HOUSE

"Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" gulped one last bit of air and saw attendance rise 118.5% with a move to less expensive theaters. "X-Men: First Class" saw a less enthusiastic bump of 28.5% from its relocation efforts.

"X-Men: First Class" is being rushed out to home video on September 9, while Disney will be taking their time with the latest "Pirates..." film. "...On Stranger Tides" hits home video on November 15, 2011.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes", earned $54.8 million in its opening weekend.

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "The Other Guys", earned $35.5 million in its opening weekend.

Biggest Per Screen Average (Multiple Sites): "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes", $15,024 at 3,648 locations ($54.8 million for the weekend)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Judy Moody And The NOT Bummer Summer", $319 at 88 locations ($28k, $15.0 million cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", +118.5%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Bad Teacher", -59.4%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 12

Films Which Surpassed $100m: "Horrible Bosses" (Thursday)

Films Which Surpassed $200m: N/A

Films Which Surpassed $300m: N/A

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend (Domestic): "Captain America: The First Avenger"

The Top 40 and other notables (Wkd Figures and % Chg, based on 3-day totals)!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	N	3	Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes	$54.8m	$54.8m	New
2	2	10	The Smurfs	$20.7m	$75.9m	-41.9
3	1	10	Cowboys And Aliens	$15.7m	$67.3m	-56.8
4	N	3	The Change-Up	$13.5m	$13.5m	New
5	3	17	Captain America: The First Avenger	$13.0m	$143.2m	-49.0
6	4	24	Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows Part 2	$12.4m	$343.1m	-43.4
7	5	10	Crazy, Stupid, Love.	$12.0m	$42.1m	-37.1
8	6	17	Friends With Benefits	$4.7m	$48.5m	-49.5
9	7	31	Horrible Bosses	$4.6m	$105.1m	-36.2
10	8	40	Transformers: Dark Of The Moon	$3.1m	$344.2m	-49.3
11	9	31	Zookeeper	$2.2m	$73.6m	-49.6
12	10	45	Cars 2	$1.2m	$184.8m	-47.9
13	12	80	Midnight In Paris	$982k	$48.5m	-15.1
14	11	17	Winnie The Pooh	$807k	$24.4m	-54.6
15	13	87	Bridesmaids	$555k	$166.5m	-35.4
16	18	17	Sarah's Key	$548k	$1.3m	+49.4
17	15	74	Kung Fu Panda 2	$500k	$162.7m	-24.4
18	27	80	Pirates...Caribbean/On Stranger Tides	$449k	$239.0m	+118.5
19	16	52	Mr. Popper's Penguins	$407k	$65.4m	-12.9
20	22	66	X-Men: First Class	$370k	$145.3m	+28.5
21	14	45	Bad Teacher	$342k	$97.5m	-59.4
22	17	74	The Hangover Part II	$293k	$253.6m	-26.5
23	20	73	The Tree Of Life	$255k	$12.2m	-23.4
24	24	122	Born To Be Wild IMAX	$238k	$10.8m	-2.5
25	39	10	The Devil's Double	$198k	$342k	+105.8
26	40	10	The Guard	$192k	$308k	+150.3
27	31	52	Buck	$190k	$3.3m	+6.4
28	25	66	Beginners	$184k	$5.3m	-20.6
29	19	24	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara	$182k	$2.9m	-47.6
30	29	24	Snow Flower And The Secret Fan	$178k	$1.0m	-3.2
31	37	17	Another Earth	$171k	$453k	+56.2
32	21	59	Super 8	$170k	$125.3m	-44.0
33	23	38	Larry Crowne	$161k	$35.4m	-38.6
34	28	115	Rio	$139k	$143.3m	-24.6
35	34	38	Monte Carlo	$129k	$22.5m	-5.3
36	38	59	The Trip	$123k	$1.6m	+23.8
37	36	507	Hubble 3D	$111k	$27.6m	-5.0
38	30	52	Green Lantern	$110k	$114.6m	-39.9
39	26	94	Thor	$109k	$180.8m	-47.4
40	54	10	The Future	$84k	$128k	+208.5

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

43. “The Whistleblower”, $61k, NEW

45. "Sholem Aleichem: Laughing In The Darkness", $51k, $269k total (31 days), +42.9%

46. "Point Blank", $48k, $110k total (10 days), +15.9%

48. “Sea Rex 3D: Journey To A Prehistoric World”, $44k, $3.8m total (436 days), +4.9%

52. “Gun Hill Road”, $38k, NEW