New ‘Planet of the Apes’ Rules the Weekend Box Office

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” the latest entry in the simian-power film series from 20th Century Fox, took in an estimated $73 million at the domestic box office, as Hollywood shook off its dreary performance over the Fourth of July holiday and fierce competition from a World Cup final match on Sunday. The film topped the weekend box office, placing ahead of Paramount’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” which ranked second, with $16.5 million in sales, and about $209 million since its release on June 27. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” handily beat the performance of its predecessor, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which took in $54.8 million on its first weekend in August 2011 and went on to sell $176.7 million in tickets at the domestic box office.

“Boyhood,” a closely watched indie film by Richard Linklater, who spent 12 years filming the project and its star, Ellar Coltrane, took in $359,000 for IFC Films on a handful of screens in Los Angeles and New York, giving it a strong start and helping to mark it as a contender during in the coming awards season.All films took in about $149 million for the weekend, according to the Rentrak box-office reporting service. That is down 24.2 percent from $196.5 million a year ago. But it was considerably stronger than the combined take of just $132.4 million when “Tammy,” a comedy starring Melissa McCarthy from Warner Bros. and its New Line Cinema unit, fell short and left the film business without a new July 4 holiday hit. “Tammy” had about $12.9 million in ticket sales for the weekend, pushing its total to $57.4 million since opening on July 2.

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” the latest entry in the simian-power film series from 20th Century Fox, took in an estimated $73 million at the domestic box office, as Hollywood shook off its dreary performance over the Fourth of July holiday and fierce competition from a World Cup final match on Sunday. The film topped the weekend box office, placing ahead of Paramount’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” which ranked second, with $16.5 million in sales, and about $209 million since its release on June 27. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” handily beat the performance of its predecessor, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which took in $54.8 million on its first weekend in August 2011 and went on to sell $176.7 million in tickets at the domestic box office.

“Boyhood,” a closely watched indie film by Richard Linklater, who spent 12 years filming the project and its star, Ellar Coltrane, took in $359,000 for IFC Films on a handful of screens in Los Angeles and New York, giving it a strong start and helping to mark it as a contender during in the coming awards season.

All films took in about $149 million for the weekend, according to the Rentrak box-office reporting service. That is down 24.2 percent from $196.5 million a year ago. But it was considerably stronger than the combined take of just $132.4 million when “Tammy,” a comedy starring Melissa McCarthy from Warner Bros. and its New Line Cinema unit, fell short and left the film business without a new July 4 holiday hit. “Tammy” had about $12.9 million in ticket sales for the weekend, pushing its total to $57.4 million since opening on July 2.