‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Brings In $73 Million

The next installment of Planet of the Apes films has grossed $73 million in its opening weekend. Dawn of the Planet of the Apesearned $4.1 million from previews on Thursday and $27.7 million on its opening day on Friday, according to Forbes.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a 20th Century Fox feature, had a budget of $170 million. If it keeps along the same path and continues to reel in big bucks, it will make back its budget in no time. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has already grossed more than its predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, did in its opening weekend in August of 2011, which was a solid $54.6 million.

Some suspect that the success of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes over its prequel is due to the 3D release. But some critics are already praising Dawn of the Planet Apes as an excellent film, so its possible that the movie is good enough to be worth the ticket price even without the 3D effects. So far, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has earned a 90 percent cumulative ranking based on many reviews by reputable critics at Rotten Tomatoes. The Inquisitr reported on the positive feedback after the release of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes earlier this week. Some are also praising Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for the more human elements. The emotional trailer shows strong connections between human characters and ape characters, instead of the usual vicious rivalry that movie-goers have seen since the Charlton Heston original Planet of the Apes in 1968.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes stars Andy Serkis, Keri Russell, Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman. It takes place ten years after humanity has already been wiped out by the apes. According to Variety.com, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was directed by Matt Reeves and produced by Chernin Entertainment. It has earned 33% more than Rise of the Planet of the Apes in its own weekend, but has to gross a total of $481 million worldwide to trump the prequel.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is doing pretty well against other major motion pictures, so far. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ only competition, Transformers: Age of Extinction, earned $5 million on Friday. There are currently no other big blockbusters opening this week to compete with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, putting the new Fox film at the top of the charts.