Box Office: 'Apes' dominate, 'Change-Up starts up weak

Rise of the Planet of the Apes conquered the box office with a phenominal $54 million in its debut weekend. Fox's reboot of the classic franchise defied all expectations and gave the fifth best August opening of all time. The film played to an older crowd of males. According to polling, 54 percent of the audience was male, while 59% were over the age of 25, which means that most were probably fans of the 1968 original. The success of the film also helps the stars as well, notably James Franco, who bounced back after the disasterous performance of Your Highness, which mustered only $21.6 million earlier this year. Freida Pinto also has another hit after her last wide release, Slumdog Millionaire and Andy Serkis proved that motion-capture technology is here to stay.

Universal's The Change-Up debuted in a disappointing fourth with $13.5 million, let's all agree that the $52 million body-switch comedy has officially ended the R-rated comedy streak, something that Friends With Benefits started two weeks ago. Not only that, it marks the second box office disappointment for Ryan Reynolds, following Green Lantern earlier this summer. As for Jason Bateman, it's a big step back from his last film, Horrible Bosses, which debuted to $28.3 million in July and has earned $105.2 million domestically in total.

In second place, The Smurfs continued to score, dropping only 43 percent for $20.3 million in its sophomore weekend, bringing its domestic total to $75.5 million so far. Cowboys and Aliens continued to disappoint, falling a large 57 percent to $15.7 milion, bringing its domestic total to $67.7 million so far. The $163 million film did have a tough time this weekend, considering that Apes was another film aiming for the male crowd. Its poor box office performance also shows that other than the Bond franchise, it seems as though Daniel Craig has what I like to call the Michael Cera curse: everything he touches bombs at the box office. It might be time for him to put back on the suit.

Here's the full list of the box office weekend:

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $54 million
2. The Smurfs – $21 million
3. Cowboys And Aliens – $15.8 million
4. The Change-Up – $13.5 million
5. Captain America: The First Avenger – $13 million
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – $12.2 million
7. Crazy, Stupid, Love. – $12.1 million
8. Friends With Benefits – $4.7 million
9. Horrible Bosses – $4.6 million
10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon – $3.0 million