In battle of ape vs. arachnid, the apes win
‘War’ pulls away from ‘Spider-Man’ with $56.5 million
Monkey business still NEW YORK pays. War for the Planet of the Apes took down Spider-Man: Homecoming at the box office, opening with an estimated $56.5 million in ticket sales.
A closer race had been expected, but Spider-Man dropped to second with $45.2 million after making its debut last weekend with $117 million. Director Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the
Apes pulled away thanks to strong reviews for the third installment of the rebooted Apes franchise. Led by Andy Serkis’ celebrated motion-capture performance as the ape leader Caesar, War for the
Planet of the Apes won a 95% “fresh” rating from critics on review site Rotten Tomatoes.
Apes led something of a summer anomaly: There is an unusual confluence of acclaimed films in release. Five of the top six at the box office ( Apes, Spider-Man, Baby Driver, The Big Sick and Wonder Woman) boast Rotten Tomatoes approval ratings of 92% or better, and the sixth ( Despicable Me 3) was largely received as a solid-enough family release. Summer, rarely a critics’ paradise, is suddenly flush with good movies. “What I think sets the Planet of
the Apes, these three films, apart from other franchise films is that it’s not gratuitous sequel-itis,” says Chris Aronson, 20th Century Fox’s distribution chief. “This is storytelling, and it’s episodic storytelling. It’s not ‘Well, let’s put the band back together.’ ”
But there also were hints of franchise fatigue for the Apes se-
ries. Reeves’ latest edition came in closer to 2012’s Rise of the Planet of the Planet of the Apes and well below the $72.6 million debut of 2014’s Dawn of the Plan
et of the Apes. The film, which cost about $150 million to produce, added $46 million overseas. ( Spider-Man: Homecoming was still king in foreign markets, where it added $72.3 million to bring its global haul to nearly $500 million.) Animated sequel Despicable
Me 3, with the voices of Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig, pulled in $18.9 million in its third week, bringing its cumulative total to $188 million. Edgar Wright’s music-driven crime caper Baby Driv
er followed with $8.8 million; its three-week gross is $73.2 million.
The weekend’s other most notable new entrant was Kumail Nanjiani’s acclaimed romantic comedy The Big Sick, which expanded to about 2,600 theaters after three weeks of limited release. The film, produced by Judd Apatow, made $7.6 million — a rare success for a comedy in a summer full of disappointment.
Horror film Wish Upon was the weekend’s only other new release. It opened with $5.5 million and a dismal C grade from audiences on CinemaScore.
Next weekend may well continue the streak of well-reviewed summer releases. Christopher Nolan’s World War II thriller
Dunkirk lands in theaters after rapturous early reactions.
Final figures are out Monday.