It was a great weekend for science fiction with intelligent apes, talking blue creatures, aliens and transmogrifying leading men taking the top four spots at the box office. In comparison, the number 5 movie that tells the story of a government created super soldier, almost sounds like a documentary.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which I’m hoping has something to do with Donkey Kong (don’t ruin it for me if you have seen it) rose to the top of the box office in it’s opening weekend with an estimated $54 million. That’s one of the highest opening weekends for August ever! Coming in second place, The Smurfs continued to do well with another $21 million added to it’s bank account, which I’m guessing is housed in a mushroom. Things were not as smurftastic for Cowboys & Aliens, which dropped 57 percent from it’s opening weekend and landed in third place with $15.7 million. Even less smurfy, The Change Up, starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds proved that not every R-rated comedy can open well. The Freaky Friday remix opened fourth with an estimated $13.5 million.
Captain America: the First Avenger continues to exhibit impressive staying power with a 5th place showing and an estimated $13 million take over the weekend. The Captain’s total tally is now at $143.2 million in 17 days. The other high-grossing super-hero of the summer, Thor, earned $145.4 million at this point in it’s run.
In mind-blowing success news, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has now made $342.8 million in 24 days and should overtake Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($344,173,000) this week to become the top-grossing movie of 2011.
Here is the top 10 for the weekend of August 5 – 7, 2011:
1 Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox $54,000,000)
2 The Smurfs (Sony $21,000,000)
3 Cowboys & Aliens (Uni. $15,748,000)
4 The Change-Up (Uni. $13,502,000)
5 Captain America: The First Avenger (Par. $13,000,000)
6 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (WB $12,160,000)
7 Crazy, Stupid, Love (WB $12,100,000)
8 Friends with Benefits (SGem $4,700,000)
9 Horrible Bosses (WB $4,620,000)
10 Transformers: Dark of the Moon (P/DW $3,015,000)