Rise of the Planet of the Apes
(2 of 2)
The first four episodes of the Final Destination horror franchise were released every three years. Continuing with the gimmick of a young person who escapes death in a mass catastrophe and is hounded for the rest of the picture by a very pissed-off Grim Reaper, FD5 broke that successful release rhythm by coming out less than two years after the top-grossing fourth installment, which opened to $27.4 million and earned lifetime totals of $66.5 in North America and a hefty $186.2 million worldwide. The new film's third-place, $18.5 million opening is scary only to FD's sponsors at Warner Bros., who must decide whether Death is telling the studio to stop tempting fate and pull the plug on the franchise.
Ambivalence at Warner Bros. is nothing compared with the anguish felt over at William McKinley High by the misfit stars of Glee. The concert version of the high-rated Fox series earned a dissonant $5.7 million, less than half the $12 million its studio had forecast — even the Jonas Brothers' concert movie made that much. The Gleeks (the show's ardent fan base) indulged their idols' film with an A-plus at CinemaScore, but only about a half-million of them bought tickets this weekend. That's worse than weak; it's bleak. Could it be that the box-office numbers were tampered with? Is this the nefarious work of the glee club's nemesis Sue Sylvester?
In indie world, of course, Glee's anemic weekend take would be cause for celebration ($25 vouchers at Whole Foods for everybody!). In one of the year's strongest limited openings, the race-car doc Senna, about the Brazilian star of Formula One driving, revved to a $66,075 debut at just two theaters. Showing considerably less horsepower were the docs Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, El Bulli, Life in a Day and Beats Rhymes & Life. The black-Irish comedy The Guard, with Don Cheadle and Brandon Gleeson, stayed strong in its third week, with a $278,723 take and a $666,129 total, while Sarah's Key, the French import starring Kristin Scott Thomas, passed the $2 million mark in its fourth week. Attack the Block, the critically acclaimed British sci-fi horror film, tanked as it expanded to 40 theaters, earning only $2,500 per screen. Apparently art-house audiences weren't in the mood to see a movie about London street gangs fending off evil aliens — not in a week when news was dominated by London street riots.
The summer's standout indie hit, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, is up to $49.6 million. It should hit $50 million by next weekend, when mainstream moviegoers will be treated to not one but three action-genre extensions: reboots of Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night and the sequel Spy Kids 4D. For Hollywood, it seems, the dog days of August have prematurely become the weeks of pre–Labor Day dogs.
Here are the Sunday estimates of this weekend's top-grossing pictures in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo:
1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $27.5 million; $104.9 million, second week
2. The Help, $25.5 million, first weekend; $35.4 million, first five days
3. Final Destination 5, $18.4 million, first weekend
4. The Smurfs, $13.5 million; $101.5 million, third week
5. 30 Minutes or Less, $13 million, first weekend
6. Cowboys & Aliens, $7.6 million; $81.5 million, third week
7. Captain America: The First Avenger, $7.1 million; $156.9 million, fourth week
8. Crazy Stupid Love, $6.9 million; $55.4 million, third week
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, $6.9 million; $357 million, fifth week
10. The Change-Up, $6.2 million; $25.75 million, second week
11. Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, $5.7 million, first weekend