by 
Updated on March 19, 2023
Audiences clearly went ape over, well, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” as it topped the box office this weekend. The film earned $73 million on its domestic opening weekend, adding to the $30.4 million already earned overseas for a total to date of $103.4 million. Strong word-of-mouth and reviews and people enjoying the last film in the series helped a lot.
As expected, “Transformers” dropped to second place, earning $16.5 million for a domestic total of $209 million and an overseas total of $543.5 million, for a global total of $752.5 million. “Age of Extinction” is now globally the top grossing film of 2014, and may easily reach $1 billion with more markets left to open. Again, while I haven’t seen it, it’s obvious that for whatever reason, audiences everywhere love the shape-shifting giant robots. This in spite of virtually everyone on the Internet/every movie critic loathing this franchise with a white-hot intensity.
Elsewhere, “How to Train Your Dragon 2” held onto fifth place, earning another $5.9 million for a domestic total of $152.1 million and an overseas total of $197.5 million, for a global total of $349.5 million. The film’s a success and has long surpassed “Peabody” and “Turbo,” but is still getting unfairly criticized for (basically) not making “Shrek”-levels of cash. “Dragons 2” will probably see a hit next week, when the “Planes” sequel is released.
“Maleficent” dropped a notch to eighth place, earning $4.2 million for a domestic total of $222 million and an overseas total of $447 million, for a global take of $669 million.
And that’s about it. Next week sees “Planes: Fire and Rescue” (the sequel to “Planes”) open, where it’ll be up against a horror film (“The Purge: Anarchy”) and yet another R-rated comedy (“Sex Tape”). No doubt “Dawn”‘s competitors will hate every ape they see, from chimpan-A to chimpanzee.
