Box office report: 'Apes' counterattacks, 'Purge' taken down a peg

Box office report: 'Apes' counterattacks, 'Purge' taken down a peg

"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s… After a Friday night showdown that heavily tipped the scales in favor of the survival-horror thriller The Purge: Anarchy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes came back strong this weekend to take the No. 1 spot at the box office.

The Apes sequel, starring motion-capture master Andy Serkis as the hyper-evolved higher primate named Caesar, collected $36 million for the weekend, according to Sunday estimates. Meanwhile, The Purge: Anarchy, a follow-up to last year’s nightmare-inducer about a 12-hour period when no crime is illegal, garnered only $28.3 million.

The No. 3 slot went to Planes: Fire & Rescue, a DisneyToon Studios sequel to last year’s family comedy about a adventurous airplanes, spun-off from Pixar’s Cars universe. With only $18 million—$4 mil less than the first Planes—that’s a pretty bad stall for a family movie in the middle of summer. It’s low Friday gross of $6.3 million seemed like it may simply have been a reflection that not many adults turned out on opening night for kiddie fare. But then Fire & Rescue didn’t do much better during family-friendly matinee hours of Saturday, earning $6.6 million. The Cinemascore rating was an A, so those who did turn out enjoyed what they saw.

The same can’t be said for Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel’s Sex Tape, which nabbed a dismal C-plus Cinemascore, and opened in fourth place with only $15 million."