Fox’s Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes held off the challenge of three potential threats and climbed to $139m in its second weekend as the top 12 North American releases slipped 25% against 2013.
Apes cost roughly $170m to make and is about to break even for the studio after two weekends factoring in the $103m international running total.
Universal released its horror sequel The Purge: Anarchy in second place on $28.4m from 2,805 theatres.
Disney’s Planes spin-off Planes: Fire & Rescue landed at number three on $18m, falling 19% against the original $22.2m debut of Planes in August 2013.
Sony released the Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel comedy Sex Tape in fourth place on an unremarkable $15m from 3,062 sites.
Paramount’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction continued to plod towards $250m and whatever happens will finish its North American run as the lowest-scoring of the sci-fi franchise. It fell three places to number five on $10m for $227.2m after four sessions.
A coupe of old pros populate the lower ranks of the top 10 after weeks of distinguished service: Sony’s 22 Jump Street at number seven has grossed $180.5m after six sessions and Maleficent ranks ninth on $228.4m after eight.
Estimated Top 10 North America July 18-20 2014:
1 (1) Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (Fox) Fox International $36m $138.9m
2 (-) The Purge: Anarchy (Universal) UPI $28.4m –
3 (-) Planes: Fire & Rescue (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $18m –
4 (-) Sex Tape (Sony) SPRI $15m –
5 (2) Transformers: Age Of Extinction (Paramount) PPI $10m $227.2m
6 (3) Tammy (Warner Bros) WBPI $7.6m $71.3m
7 (4) 22 Jump Street (Sony) SPRI $4.7m $180.5m
8 (5) How To Train Your Dragon 2 (Fox-DreamWorks Animation) Fox International $3.8m $160.7m
9 (8) Maleficent (Disney) WDSMPI $3.3m $228.4m
10 (6) Earth To Echo (Relativity Media) Relativity International $3.26m $31.9m
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