WEEKEND Box Office: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES rules with a $54mil est. weekend!! CHANGE-UP ugh at $13mil est. wknd.

"YEAH!  JERSEY SHORE is back on!  Fist pump everyone!!"

According to Deadline Hollywood RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES will easily take the #1 spot this weekend with an estimated $54 mil.

That's a healthy number and shows the APES franchise could overcome that 2001 Tim Burton debacle.  It is more impressive than the COWBOYS & ALIENS opening last weekend ($36mil) and that film apparently cost twice as much ($200mil) as APES.

It looks like a bad weekend for Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds as their comedy THE CHANGE-UP looks to be the lowest of the major 'adult' comedy openings of this summer.  The film looks to take in a sad $13mil against very little R-rated competition.  I'm guessing the body-switching plot looked worn out to audiences (even though this was more mature than the other switching movies).


As for second weekends, last weekend's runner-up THE SMURFS will take second place again this weekend with an estimated $21mil (41% down from last weekend) which shows the family film does have legs.

And last week's leader COWBOYS & ALIENS will take the expected big drop.  It's estimated by Deadline Hollywood to gross $15mil - a drop of 58%.