‘Apes’ swing to top of North American box office

LOS ANGELES, USA  – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes swung straight to the top of North America’s box office at the weekend, edging out the blockbuster Transformers robots, industry data showed Monday.

The Apes saga, the latest film based on the Pierre Boulle sci-fi tale of humans and chimps clashing to survive, raked in $72.6 million, according to industry monitor Exhibitor Relations.

That pushed Transformers: Age of Extinction to second place with $16.3 million  – or $208.8 million in three weeks.

The massive morphing robots epic was the first movie of the year to open with $100 million on the domestic front.

In third place was comic romp Tammy, starring Melissa McCarthy, whose road trip with her alcoholic grandmother, played by Susan Sarandon, brought in $12.6 million in ticket sales.

Buddy cop comedy 22 Jump Street, featuring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, pulled in $6.5 million for fourth place.

Another blockbuster summer sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, came in fifth with $6.1 million.

Family-friendly sci-fi Earth to Echo was in sixth place with $5.5 million in earnings.

It was just ahead of horror flick “Deliver Us From Evil,” which had $4.8 million in ticket sales, in seventh place.

Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent, a modern retelling of the life of Sleeping Beauty’s arch-nemesis, grossed $4.2 million for the weekend for eighth place.

Keira Knightley’s musical rom-com Begin Again earned 2.8 million dollars.

Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about the 1960s rise to pop success of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, was in 10th at $2.5 million. –Rappler.com