Weekend Box Office Report: July 14-16, 2017

War for the Planet of the Apes wins!

Talking monkeys took over the box office this weekend as WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES was on top at the box office with an estimated opening of $56.5 million!

The third chapter in the relaunched ape series got a slightly better start than the $54.8 million opening of RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES in 2011, but lower than the $72.1 million of 2014 sequel DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (which ended with $208 million domestic and $710 million worldwide).

The action-thriller, which pits Woody Harrelson's forces against the simian form of Andy Serkis, cost a reported $150 million. Director Matt Reeves' primate conflict (his second ape entry after DAWN) dragged in another $46 million from international crowds for a worldwide weekend of $102.5 million.

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES was a satisfying close to the trilogy for critics, who gave it a 95% average on Rotten Tomatoes. You can check out the JoBlo review HERE.

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING got knocked down to second place with $45.2 million, dipping by 61% from its opening last weekend.

That's a larger-than-average drop for a Marvel release, which generally lose 55-60% of business in their second weekends after scoring huge openings.

That said, the wall-crawler's MCU adventure has a ten-day domestic total of $208.2 million (swinging higher than the $202 million domestic finish of the Andrew Garfield-fronted AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2), and a worldwide total of $469 million so far.

In third place was the animated family feature DESPICABLE ME 3 with $18.9 million. The Minion-filled $80 million sequel has a domestic total of $187.9 million after three weekends, with a worldwide total of $619 million (passing the $543 million global total of the first DESPICABLE ME).

BABY DRIVER was in fourth place with $8.7 million, bringing Edgar Wright's music-fueled thriller to a domestic total of $73.1 million. And with $96.3 million worldwide, the R-rated heist movie has driven past the $80.6 million global total of HOT FUZZ to become the filmmaker's highest-grossing effort.

Kumail Nanjiani's coma comedy THE BIG SICK expanded into wide release this weekend and moved up to fifth place with $7.6 million. The acclaimed R-rated romcom now has a domestic total of $16.1 million.

WONDER WOMAN keeps flexing her box office muscles in sixth place with $6.8 million. After seven weekends in release, the DC Comics heroine has a domestic total of $380.6 million, virtually guaranteeing that she will be the highest-grossing domestic champion of the summer.

Opening in seventh place was the new PG-13 horror movie WISH UPON with $5.6 million.

The modern twist on the classic "Monkey's Paw" story cost a reported $12 million. Critics put the teen thriller back in the box with a 20% average on Rotten Tomatoes (the JoBlo review is HERE).

Toward the bottom of the list was Pixar's CARS 3 and Michael Bay's fifth robo-clash TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT, while the Amy Poehler/Will Ferrell comedy THE HOUSE has managed to stay in the Top 10 for three weeks despite a critical hammering.

Outside the chart, the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN became chum (with $40 million domestic), leaving along with Sofia Coppola's THE BEGUILED. Despite only making it to $170 million domestic, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES has sailed to $750 million worldwide.

Next weekend has filmmaker Christopher Nolan taking us to war with DUNKIRK, Luc Besson shoots us into outer space with VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS, and Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett-Smith party in New Orleans in the comedy GIRLS TRIP.

What is your favorite ape movie? VOTE HERE!