Box Office: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Climbs to No. 1 With $56 Million Debut

Primates ruled over the North American box office, as “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” collected $56.5 million in its first weekend of release. 

Those ticket sales were a hair above early projections of $50 million to $55 million and were easily enough to tower over the nonexistent competition.

The weekend figure is roughly average for the genre, but average here is based on the biggest action films of all time,” says David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “This is an excellent opening.”

An opening that’s in line with projections is great and all, but Gross says the exhibition industry is still waiting for “something to jolt the market and electrify summer moviegoing.”

Right now, the domestic box office is down roughly 22% from 2023 and 42% from 2019, according to Comscore. 

Over the next few months, theater owners are relying on tentpoles like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Inside Out 2” to crush expectations and salvage the summer season.

“The solid performance of ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ is a key building block in the summer season box office,” says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, adding the film could be a “momentum booster to the many wide release films set to hit the multiplex in the coming weeks.”The newest film in the long-running “Apes” series cost $160 million to produce (less than the two prior $190 million-budgeted films) and, like its predecessors, is expected to be bigger at the international box office. 

The film debuted to $72.5 million overseas, bringing its global tally to a solid $129 million.