Last week, the hotly anticipated tenth entry in the long-running Planet of the Apes franchise swung into movie theaters, and audiences turned out in a big way. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes exceeded box office projections this weekend, bringing in $58.5 million domestically and $72.5 million internationally for a grand total of $131.2 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That makes Kingdom the first box office hit of the summer, and very likely to earn back its $160 million budget and then some.
This also marks Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as the second-highest opening ever for the Apes franchise, as it edged past the $56.3 million opening for 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes and $54.3 million for 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The only Apes film with a higher opening is Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the second film in the Andy Serkis-led reboot trilogy about Caesar, the first ape chieftain. That one opened to the impressive sum of $72.6 million domestically, so it gets to hold on to the crown for the time being.
Many articles about the Kingdom box office numbers are comparing it to the rather lackluster run for The Fall Guy, an action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt which has so far been underperforming. The Fall Guy cost $125 million to make, not much less than the effects-heavy Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Yet as of this writing, The Fall Guy is just creeping past the $50 million mark at the domestic box office since its release on May 3.
Those numbers had a lot of outlets buzzing about the box office being in trouble this summer, but the apes are having none of it. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the third highest domestic opening weekend of 2024, behind only Dune: Part Two ($82.5 million) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($80 million). I'm seeing a trend, and that trend is big, bombastic sci-fi action films crushing it at theaters. Will the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel movie Furiosa continue the trend of these movies dominating the 2024 box office when it comes out later this month? My money's on yes.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is playing now in theaters.
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