'Planet of Apes' holding off 'Purge' sequel, 'Planes 2' and limp 'Sex Tape' at box office

Jul 19 (TheWrap.com) - "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" held off three wide openers with an impressive $10.4 million Friday, and is poised to repeat as weekend box office champ ahead of horror sequel "The Purge: Anarchy."

Buoyed by great reviews and strong word of mouth, Fox's "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is on pace for a $35 million three-day total in its second week. That would be a roughly 52 percent drop from last weekend, better than the holds of any recent No. 1 film. "Amazing Spider-Man 2," "Godzilla," "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" all fell off by more than 60 percent. It remains in a market-high 3,969 theaters.

Universal's "The Purge: Anarchy" finished first Friday with $12.9 million from 2,806 theaters, which included $2.6 million from Thursday night shows, and is on its way to a $27 million first weekend. That's less than the $34 million that the original opened to, but still a very solid performance for a movie with a $9 million production budget.

Moviegoers gave the thriller directed by James DeMonaco and starring Frank Grillo a "B" CinemaScore, better than the first film's "C."

Disney's kid film "Planes: Fire and Rescue" took in $6.3 million from 3,826 theaters Friday and beat out Sony's Cameron Diaz-Jason Segal R-rated comedy "Sex Tape," which managed $5.6 million at 3,052 locations. That projects to a roughly $17 million weekend for "Planes 2" and a disappointing $16 million for "Sex Tape," which analysts had projected would finish in the mid-$20 million range.

Audiences gave the kids film an "A" CinemaScore, but a weak "C+" to "Sex Tape."

On its current pace, "Sex Tape" will finish the weekend with just over half of the $31.6 million debut of "Bad Teacher," the raunchy 2011 comedy that also featured Diaz and Segel and was directed by Jake Kasdan, and the $24 million debut of April's "The Other Woman," another R-rated comedy starring Diaz.

The $40 million comedy has been pounded by critics, and has just a 19 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Depending on how big a bump the family crowd delivers on Saturday and Sunday, "Planes 2" should land with around $17 million for the three days. That would be under the $22.2 million debut of the original last August.

At the specialty box office, Zach Braff's Kickstarter-funded "Wish I Was Here" opened to an OK $150,000 on 68 screens for Focus Features.