Friday Report: 'Apes' Rise
On Friday, Rise of the Planet of the Apes handily won the box office battle, while The Change-Up attracted few bodies and The Smurfs extended its lead over Cowboys & Aliens.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes climbed to the top with an estimated $19.75 million on close to 5,400 screens at 3,648 locations, which was superior to such recent comps as District 9 ($14.2 million) and Terminator Salvation ($14.8 million). The franchise reboot's launch even grossed more than I, Robot's $18.1 million (though sold fewer tickets) and wasn't far off from X-Men: First Class's $21.4 million earlier this summer. However, it was beneath Planet of the Apes (2001)'s $24.6 million ($34.7 million adjusted for ticket price inflation) from ten years ago, as it should be considering it didn't cover the franchise's most iconic territory.

The trajectories of past similar movies suggest that Rise of the Planet of the Apes is headed for $52-57 million this weekend.

It was a freaky Friday for The Change-Up, which opened in fourth with a relatively soft estimated $4.75 million on around 3,300 screens at 2,913 locations (suggesting around $13 million for the weekend). That was a far cry from the summer's other R-rated comedies, including even Friends with Benefits. Despite the attempt at a raunchy twist on the body switch comedy, Change-Up also fell far short of the recent body-switch comedies 17 Again ($9.4 million), 13 Going on 30 ($7.4 million) and Freaky Friday even before adjusting for ticket-price inflation.

Ranking second, The Smurfs dipped 55 percent from last Friday to an estimated $5.95 million, tracking similarly to G-Force. Cowboys & Aliens wrangled third place with an estimated $4.75 million (just a thousand more than Change-Up), collapsing by 64 percent. The two movies' respective eight-day tallies were $61.2 million and $56.4 million.

Captain American: The First Avenger's neck-and-neck battle with Thor continued. Captain gained ground on the weekdays, but Thor's mightier weekend numbers have kept it slightly ahead. Rounding out the Top Five, Captain was off 52 percent to an estimated $3.75 million for a $133.9 million sum in 15 days, compared to Thor's $134.3 million at the same point.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. was right on Captain's heels with $3.73 million, dropping 43 percent for a $33.8 million total in eight days. Meanwhile, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 again hewed closely to the previous July Potters, slowing 48 percent to an estimated $3.4 million for a whopping $334 million tally in 22 days.

Related Story:

Forecast: 'Apes' to Overrun the Weekend

Related Charts:

• Grosses for Friday, August 5, 2011

• 'Harry Potter' Franchise

• Showdown: 'Captain America' Vs. 'Thor'

• Showdown: 'Cowboys' Vs. 'Smurfs'