"Apes" take box office with $77 milllion globally

LOS ANGELES: Chimps reigned over humans, Smurfs and aliens at movie theaters over the weekend as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” climbed to the top of box office charts with global ticket sales of $77.4 million.

The big-budget, effects-filled prequel to the 1968 classic film about genetically enhanced apes that launch a revolution took the top spot at U.S. and Canadian theaters with a strong $54 million in ticket sales, distributor 20th Century Fox said on Sunday.

The film starring James Franco and John Lithgow also sold $23.4 million in 25 international markets.

The U.S. and Canadian tally topped forecasts for a film that cost about $93 million to make. Positive reviews plus “ground-breaking (effects) technology” and “a very strong emotional story” drew audiences, said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox.

In second place, surprise summer hit “The Smurfs” rang up $21 million domestically plus $45.2 million overseas during the weekend, far surpassing expectations for the family film about little blue cartoon characters made popular in a 1980s television show.

“Cowboys & Aliens,” a big-budget sci-fi Western, finished third with $15.7 million in its second weekend in theaters, which represented a 57 percent drop from one week ago.

The weekend’s other new, wide release film — body-switching comedy “The Change-Up” — finished fourth with domestic sales of $13.5 million, hitting the low end of estimates. The film stars Jason Bateman as a married father who swaps bodies with his single buddy played by Ryan Reynolds.

The movie resonated with women who made up 59 percent of the audience, said a spokeswoman for Universal Studios, the movie studio division of Comcast Corp that released the film. Production cost was $52 million.

“Captain America: The First Avenger,” a superhero flick in its third weekend of release, finished in fifth place with $13 million domestically.

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. “The Change-Up” and “Cowboys & Aliens” were distributed by Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast Corp. The Smurfs was released by Sony Corp and “Captain America: The First Avenger” was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. AGENCIES

‘Couples Retreat’ tops at box office

LOS ANGELES : ‘Couples Retreat’ tops at box office, Relationship comedy ‘Couples Retreat’ shot to the top of the North American box office in its first week of release, final figures showed Monday.

The movie, starring comic favourites Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman, follows four couples at a retreat where their relationships come under a little more scrutiny than they would like.

The movie scored 34.3 million dollars to knock down tongue-in-cheek comedy “Zombieland” to the number two spot, according to figures from Exhibitor Relations.

The gory but hilarious take on a zombie invasion, starring Woody Harrelson, took 14.8 million dollars in its second week in theatres.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” the animated tale of an island rained on by junk food, also fell a place to number three, earning 11.5 million in box office receipts.

In fourth place was low-budget supernatural thriller “Paranormal Activity,” raking in 7.9 million dollars after being screened in only 159 theatres.

The film, reportedly made for a paltry 11,000 dollars, has earned comparisons to 1999 hit “The Blair Witch Project” and focuses on supernatural goings on in a suburban San Diego house.

Falling to fifth spot was the 3-D format re-release of popular Pixar cartoons “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2,” which took in a combined 7.8 million. The films came ahead of the much-anticipated “Toy Story 3,” due out next year.

Futuristic Bruce Willis action film “Surrogates” about people living their lives through sexy robot replicas of themselves took sixth place with 4.3 million dollars.

Coming in seventh was “The Invention of Lying,” which stars British comedian Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner as a couple living in an alternative reality where nobody ever lies. The film took 3.3 million dollars.

Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut “Whip It” set in the world of all-female roller derbies with “Juno” star Ellen Page was eighth with 2.8 million dollars.

Ninth spot was taken by controversial documentarian Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story,” with 2.6 million dollars.

Rounding out the top 10 was “Fame,” an updated version of the 1980 musical, earning 2.5 million dollars in its third week in theatres.

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‘Couples Retreat’ tops at box office was first posted on October 13, 2009 at 9:27 am.