Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire just had a bigger-than-expected opening weekend and it sounds like more simians will soon find a similar level of box office success. According to Deadline (via SFFGazette.com), Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is eyeing a solid $54 million - $61 million opening weekend next month.
It's worth noting that the movie is still six weeks away, making this tracking quite a bit further out than normal (typically, we get numbers like these roughly three weeks in advance).
To compare, the 2001 Planet of the Apes reboot opened to $68.5 million, while the next one, 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes (which kicked off a trilogy that Kingdom serves as a successor to) earned $54.8 million during its first few days in theaters.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes later opened to $72.6 million and War for the Planet of the Apes debuted with a slightly less impressive $56.2 million, ending the story of Caesar before the franchise's planned jump further into Earth's future.
In related news, a recent AMC listing has seemingly confirmed that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be the longest Apes movie yet at a whopping 145 minutes (2 hours, 25 minutes).
This is expected to be the opening chapter of a new trilogy, though we're still not sure how it leads to the Ceasar from the original movies ruling over Earth (or whether the plan is for the franchise to throw time travel into the mix).
In the movie, director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar's reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows.
As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague (IT), Freya Allan (The Witcher), Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), Peter Macon (Shameless), and William H. Macy (Fargo).
The screenplay is by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Avatar: The Way of Water) and Patrick Aison (Prey), based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, a new entry in 20th Century Studios' global, epic franchise, opens exclusively in theaters on May 10, 2024.