20th Century Studios‘ “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is off to a good start racking in $6.6M on Thursday. This also doesn’t take into account the $1.6M it made during fan shows on Wednesday. A $55 million opening is now being eyed for the film — I’m betting it’ll be higher. Its budget is said to be around $160 million.
This would make ‘Kingdom’ the best Thursday night ever for an ‘Apes’ movie besting 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” which did $5M. The best ever weekend opening for an ‘Apes’ movie would be “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” which had a $4.25M Thursday before racking up a 3-day total of $72.6M.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can read my “B” graded review. It’s very watchable, old-school affair that, although it doesn’t reach the heights of Matt Reeves’ ‘War,’ sets up quite nicely an inevitable new trilogy. At 145 minutes, it’s a little too long, with some dull stretches, but I’ll take it.