20th Century Studios

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is beating its chest towards a $125M global bow this weekend. At the international box office, we understand the Wes Ball-directed installment is at around $31M through Friday. As Anthony has reported, domestic is looking at a $52M-$55M start for the full frame.

Overseas, we’re eyeing $70M with some potential upside. Hindrance here is China as we noted in our preview. Even though Apes will come in at No. 1 for the frame there, it’s a soft market coming off of a big holiday weekend last session. This one includes a Saturday workday. The Maoyan (9.1) and TPP (9.2) scores are good, but the Douban critical note is not so hot at 6.7 which is the lowest of the recent series. Estimates for the no longer reliable market’s start are around $11M. 

Looking at overseas comps and at today’s exchange rates, 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes bowed to $62M internationally ($8M was from China). In 2014, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes did $127M ($37M in China) and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes came in at a $130M launch ($56M from China). 

So, given projections we are hearing, Kingdom would land in the upper to middle of that pack. 

We understand there have been positive starts in Latin America, France, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe – where, it bears noting, there is now summer weather in some pockets. Elsewhere, there are mixed results. 

The Top 5 markets through Friday overseas are: France ($4.8M), China ($3M), Mexico ($2.4M), UK ($2M) and Germany ($1.3M).

Not included in the above are the Saturday numbers out of China and Korea which take those running cumes to $6.7M and $2.1M, respectively.

We’ll have a full report tomorrow.