Rise of the Planet of the Apes flattened Cars 2 this weekend as demand for the film grew which sent its admissions spiraling upwards on Saturday and Sunday. Much like Mr. Popper's Penguins, the film played particularly well on those days as much of the general public was intrigued enough to go and watch it. The parallels between this and Popper's is somewhat surprising to see.

Opening weekend admissions for Mr. Popper's Penguins and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Not much separates the two. Apes had the stronger weekday admissions. Mr. Popper's had the bigger % weekend increases and weekend admissions but Apes ultimately won out due its strength on the two weekdays.

Recapping its opening weekend, it lead off well on Thursday boasting over a 30,000 start. On Friday, the film gained 11% and took in over 35,000 admissions. Saturday saw a huge bounce, an increase of 54% from Friday, and almost 20,000 more admissions than Friday. Sunday capped off a great weekend as it increased 5% to land at 58,000+ admissions for the day. Lots of buzz for this one pushed audiences to watch it as the special effects were marketed as the big ticket item. Actuals reported from Screendaily have this at 1.1m but it is likely to be adjusted upwards when full numbers come in. Even more impressive for this film is that it most likely beat out Cars 2 with previews which was something many people did not expect before this weekend. This will probably outgross Captain America although #1 for the month of August is not a certainty yet.

Cars 2 languished as it sputtered out of control grossing about $400,000 less than Apes. General reactions were not good as the special screenings definitely hurt its potential box office this weekend and its total. For this weekend, it will take in somewhere between $700,000-$750,000. It opened with an ok total of almost 18,000 admissions on Thursday but saw the same drop that Smurfs had last week on Friday, down -13%. Disney was really trying to market this to all audiences as they promoted Toy Story 3 as much as possible, going so far as to put Toy Story 3 on the Hong Kong poster. It didn't resonate with adult audiences and was left scrambling to pick up the pieces on the weekend where it didn't fare much better. Saturday continued its putrid dailies as it increased less than 50%, 43% to be exact, a troubling sign for a kids film. It managed to pull itself together on Sunday, catapulting 28% from Saturday, and saw it take in 6,000 more admissions than Saturday. Once again, the comparisons between itself and The Smurfs are uncanny.

Opening weekend admissions for Cars 2 and The Smurfs.

They have the 13% drop on Friday in common as well as the big increases Sat-Sun. Cars 2 saw a troubling increase on Saturday whereas Smurfs almost doubled Cars 2 Fri-Sat % increase. In the end, the Pixar brand outdid The Smurfs even when not factoring Cars 2's special screenings. Looking ahead, the drop on Friday and the small increase on Saturday don't bode well for the film. This will end around Wall-E's neck of the woods, a little over 2m.

The forgotten success story of the weekend is The Fortune Buddies which opened with more than $300,000. This movie was comprised of many TVB stars who were in their niches and that did the trick as it garnered a bigger than expected gross. Moviegoers who wanted a laugh or two went to see this as this was the only local comedy to come out for some time. While it ended up in 3rd place in admissions, it will land 5th in gross due to no 3D. It has already grossed more than Treasure Inn did its entire run and is looking at a total of more than $600,000.

The Smurfs overcame its mediocre opening and posted a good drop even with Cars 2 officially opening as it only fell 40% in admissions. It recovered from a 48% drop on Friday and finished with 3 straight days of drops under 42%. Weekend should come in with about $380,000 and close to a 1.3m total. It will finish with 1.7-1.8m.

Captain America shed 1 of its 2 theaters and most of the audience as it got walloped by the 1-2 punch from Apes and Cars 2. It crumbled 67% and is looking like it will drop more than Thor's 2nd weekend. -64% would give it $440,000 for the weekend and about 2m for its run so far.