The fourth film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes series has just been released today and is already seeing big numbers in preview figures. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes grossed $6.6 million in Thursday preview screenings before being released officially on May 10, with #1.6 million from a fan event earlier in the week. Based on these estimations, the film should be able to achieve and surpass the $50 to $55 million opening weekend gross for the film.
This is somewhat confirmed based on other preview nights for films, according to Deadline. Films like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, grossed $4.7 million on its preview night then saw $45 million on its opening weekend, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny saw $7.2 million posted in its Thursday night previews and turned in a nice $60.4 million domestic opening.
Not only this, but THR brings up that the Apes series’ previous film, War for the Planet of the Apes, had grossed $5 million in previews before opening to a $56.3 million weekend domestically. The film before that, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes earned $4.1 million in previews but went on to have the biggest opening in the franchise’s history, making $72.6 million that weekend.
This new film has also seen good reviews, reaching 82% on Rotten Tomatoes from reviewers and an 83% audience score. If anything, this adds more guarantee for the film to hit its goals.
The plot of Kingdom is that the film is set 300 years after the events of War, in which apes are now the main dominant species in the world. An ape named Noa searches for his clan after it is stolen by an evil ape overlord while learning the truth about his world during his journey.
This film stars Owen Teague (It) who plays Noa, along with Freya Allan (The Witcher), Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and William H. Macy (Shameless). It is opening in 4,075 theaters, including 400 Imax locations, and has more than 1,000 other large format screens.