14 DAY TRIAL // James Franco himself didn’t seem to have much confidence in that his latest film, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” would become box office gold, but it turns out he was wrong. It made $54 million in its opening weekend in the US.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt, the film stars James Franco and Freida Pinto as two scientists who help create a new breed of intelligent apes who will eventually threaten to take over the world.
Though preceded by excellent hype especially from the critic community, the film still managed to top all expectations, ranking among the best openings of the summer, AceShowbiz informs.
“The number is quite big for a summer action movie. It is placed tenth among the top 15 weekend openers since last April, above ‘Green Lantern’ ($53.2 million) and below ‘X-Men: First Class’ ($55.1 million),” the e-zine says.
For the sake of comparison, “Green Lantern” had an estimated budget (before promotional expenses) of over $200 million, while “Apes” of only $90 million – and it still performed better.
“According to exit polling, the James Franco-starring movie has attracted mainly male moviegoers (56%) while 59% were over the age of 25 and around 20% were above 50 years old. Most viewers gave this film ‘A-’ CinemaScore grade,” AceShowbiz says.
Oppositely, “Green Lantern” was thrashed by critics, being so far, the biggest flop of the summer.
Another disappointment at the domestic box office is newcomer “The Change-Up,” starring Ryan Reynolds (he of the “Green Lantern”) and Jason Bateman. It only made a measly $13.5 million in its opening weekend.
“The Smurfs” though, held its ground in the face of new arrivals, making another $21 million. “Cowboys & Aliens” is likewise in the hot spot since, boasting a budget of about $200 million it is already going down the chart, making only $15.8 million in its second week.
“Captain America: The First Avenger” remains a strong performer, bringing in another $13 million for Marvel. However, the strongest performer is definitely “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” which made $12.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend.
The rest of the box office chart in the US over the weekend looks as follows: “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”($12.1 million), “Friends With Benefits” ($4.7 million), “Horrible Bosses” ($4.6 million) and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” ($3 million).