Weekend Box Office Report: Apes Swing Into Top Spot
By Bill Wine
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's quite a dawn for Dawn.
The science fiction sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the weekend's only new mainstream release, has galloped away with the box office crown on its debut weekend, earning an estimated $73-million.
Trailing well behind but holding down the next few spots are all holdovers, most of them also sequels.
The hit, Transformers: Age of Extinction, was a distant second with $16-million. Third was the comedy, Tammy, with $13-million. And fourth and fifth were two more sequels: 22 Jump Street with $7-million; and How to Train Your Dragon 2 with $6-million.
Although industry-wide totals were well below those of a year ago, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes appears to be a legitimate blockbuster, accounting for over half of all ticket sales on its initial weekend.
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