Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Rules The Weekend Box Office With $52-55 Million Debut

In the post-apocalyptic future where mankind has been reduced to mute, feral packs of humans and all of our skyscrapers have grown over with greenery, there isn't much use for money. But until that future inevitably comes, studios need cash to make movies like "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," and they need those movies to generate even more money so that the whole hairy cycle can continue.

Fortunately, "Kingdom" is so far living up to the standards of its ancestors with an estimated opening weekend of $52-55 million, after grossing $22.2 million from Thursday previews and Friday ticket sales (per Deadline). That's roughly in line with early box office projections, and also on par with "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" ($54.8 million) and "War for the Planet of the Apes" ($56.2 million). However, it falls short of two other entries in the franchise: "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," which opened to a chimp-ressive $72.6 million in 2014; and the "Planet of the Apes" remake with Mark Wahlberg, which enjoyed an orangu-tastic $68.5 million debut in 2001.

"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" begins around 300 years after the events of "Rise," "Dawn," and "War." Those three movies formed a prequel to the original 1968 film, in which Charlton Heston played an astronaut who is accidentally thrown into a far-flung future where (spoilers) apes have taken over the planet and enslaved humans. 

When the Walt Disney Company bought most of 21st Century Fox for the princely sum of $71.3 billion in 2019, the "Planet of the Apes" franchise wasn't at the top of the reasons why. That spot belongs firmly to Fox's ownership of the X-Men movie rights, which had thus far prevented Disney from including mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Another shiny object was James Cameron's long-gestating "Avatar" sequels, which proved a smart purchase when "Avatar: The Way of Water" made a tidy $2.3 billion at the global box office.

Recently, though, Disney has been going through a rough patch. In Deadline's overview of the five movies that lost the most money in 2023, four of them were Disney movies. The MCU itself has been faltering at the box office, and "Avatar 3" won't arrive until December 2025. Disney's present struggles look particularly stark after riding the high of mega-grossing "Star Wars" movies and Marvel movies throughout the 2010s.

The modern "Planet of the Apes" prequel films are more renowned for their visual effects and critical acclaim than their box office performance. Nonetheless, all three previous movies made a healthy profit, peaking with $710 million worldwide for "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes." A dependable franchise is exactly what Disney needs right now.

Of course, "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" still has a long way to go. Overseas ticket sales will be particularly important (international box office accounted for 70% of the global total on the last two movies), and despite positive reviews from critics, moviegoers are less enamored with the film. CinemaScore gave "Kingdom" a B grade based on opening night audience polling, compared to an A- grade for the three previous movies. We know these apes have strong arms, but will they also have long legs?