According to Nikki Finke the box office is not only refusing to recover this weekend, it has slipped even further behind with a stunning 29% drop over last year. Despite all the industry happy talk around “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” the sequel opened well below where other under-performers have this summer and has now dropped 53% from last weekend.
“Dawn” will do fine, no question, but within the context of what this summer needs, it is nothing close to a savior, nor were this weekend’s three wide releases. “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” “Sex Tape,” and “Purge: Anarchy” offered a little something to everyone: families, couples, and action/horror lovers. Audiences, however, are not biting.
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” will come in first again this weekend. Even with a 53% drop (which is surprising for a very good film earning rave reviews and coasting on the goodwill of its predecessor), the sequel should gross somewhere around $34 million by Monday. This will put the two week take at $137 million.
The only real success story this weekend, though, is the micro-budgeted genre film “The Purge: Anarchy,” which came in second. By Monday the sequel will have earned somewhere around $28 million. While not close to the $34 million its predecessor opened to last year, that’s still a solid haul, especially during a year when micro-budgeted horror films have been flopping one after another.
“The Purge: Anarchy” is not only a fairly satisfying action picture, it is an absolutely brutal condemnation of Obama’s and the Left’s vision for America.
The year is 2023 and 9 years ago the dual crises of urban criminality and nationwide financial turmoil were not allowed to go to waste. A sinister agenda to fundamentally transform America was completed through the tyranny of a majority who voted to grant the Federal Government extraordinary powers. As a result, our beloved Founding Fathers were tossed in favor of the New Founding Fathers.
Today the Federal Government is a subject of worship. The very concepts of God and patriotism have been co-opted and perverted into worship of the State and the aborting of the sick, old, and undesirable. A chirpy, shallow, dim-witted, happy-talking and omnipresent 24/7 hour media cheerleads everything.
Coming in third is “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” a sequel to last year’s “Planes.” The follow-up should open as well as the original, somewhere close to $22 million.
The execrable “Sex Tape” is obviously being murdered by word of mouth. Early estimates had the R-rated Cameron Diaz, Jason Segal comedy jostling with “Purge” and “Planes” for second place. Today it’s looking like a loser that will bellyflop at $16 million. The movie is dreadful and deserves a quick death.
Three big releases are scheduled for next weekend: Rob Reiner’s old-age romantic comedy “And So It Goes,”which stars Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton; Dwayne Johnson’s “Hercules,” and Scarlett Johansson’s “Lucy.”
Something for everyone, plenty of starpower… Can Hollywood finally get a break?
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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