For once you can color me quite surprised by a movie: I absolutely loved Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

I had a lot of doubts about just hw good a prequel to the 1968 Planet of the Apes could be, especially with the fact that the “origin” had been covered in the fourth film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.  The biggest issue with that one was the time travel paradox that had been put in motion in the third film and they just kept running with it, leading to a story that just didn’t make a ton of sense if you gave it more than two seconds of thought.  With some time to kill on a plane yesterday, I finally watched the new movie, and walked away – or more accurately I just kept sitting as I was on a plane – completely impressed with what I had just seen.

This new film, which of course benefits from far improved special effects, tells a much more coherent story, and one that could lead in a multitude of new directions.  There are a few things that seem a tad superfluous (I really have no clue why Freida Pinto’s character Caroline Aranha even existed beyond speaking as a conscience for James Franco’s Will Rodman), but overall this is a tight, thoughtful and, even at times, heartwarming story that makes you surprisingly root for the apes.  This is not some story of the apes rising up out of a desire to be the dominant species, this is about ill-treated creatures wanting their freedom and dignity back.

What potentially made me smile the most, however, were the ever so slight nods to the future of what appears to be a new franchise emerging.  If you haven’t seen it yet, pay close attention to the TV news in the background and newspaper headlines, and you should get what it was.

A sequel is currently being written, but no word yet on when in the Apes timeline it will take place, but the movie did leave us with a bit of a cliffhanger in the form of a virus that impacts humans but not apes.  There could definitely be one more prequel film before they get to the retelling of the 1968 film where the virus spreads and the apes gain more prominence in society.  We are left with the first apes having made it to the safety of the Redwood Forest, I would love to see the second film deal with a rudimentary ape society forming there as the human world crumbles from the virus that inadvertently made the apes smart.  Show us easer taking on his role as the “Lawgiver” and laying the groundwork of what will eventually become the dominant society on the planet.

If you put off seeing this film out of thoughts that it wouldn’t be your cup of tea, I highly recommend you check it out on home video as I did, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

The Help won a third weekend in a row, and some amazing stats to go along with it.

Theoretically you could say the fact The Help only lost 2.3% of its business from last weekend could be chalked up the fact less screens were open last weekend due to Hurricane Irene.  If those screens had been open, the film would have made more last weekend, meaning it’s take this weekend would be a bigger drop, but any way you slice it, it still brought in $14.2 million, bringing its domestic gross to $118.6 million off of a $25 million budget.

The new releases this week were subdued, and no match for the might of the three week title holder.  Coming in second was the thriller The Debt.  It scored a modest $9.67 million in its opening weekend.

Third and fourth place were separated by a mere $60,000.  Apollo 18 took third with $8.7 million while Shark Night 3D came in with $8.64 million.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes continued to beat its chest, coming in fifth this week with $7.8 million.  It hasn’t set box office records, but it has certainly done a healthy business bringing in a total of $160 million domestically.

Overall the summer film season is closing out with a whimper, with nothing but The Help catching on with audiences.  All of last week’s new releases - Colombiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Our Idiot Brother - all fell out of the top 5.  The title for the most embarrassing August release has to go to Conan the Barbarian which fell to 17th place this weekend with a paltry $1.3 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $19.6 million.  It hasn’t even been able to beat the dollar total of the 1982 film of the same name which brought in $39 million.  Adjusted for inflation the new one is a complete train wreck.

The only major release for next weekend is Contagion, with a couple smaller films also taking their opening bows.

The Help was crowned champion of the weekend once again, and it wasn’t all due to a hurricane.

Once again the the drama about the race relations between African-American employees and their white employers fended off three newcomers to win the weekend.  In its fourth weekend of release, The Help brought in an estimated $14.3 million to take first place.

While it was able to hold off the newcomers, it looks like it was a combination of weak new releases, and Hurricane Irene keeping people out of the theaters.  This ended up being the second weakest weekend of the year, coming in only behind Superbowl weekend.

Coming in second was the female-driven action film Colombiana with $10.3 million. This was a better showing for an action film starring Zoe Saldana, best known for playing Uhura in the 2009 Star Trek.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark came in with just $8.7 million, and a fairly weak stat for the horror genre.

In fourth place was Rise of the Planet of the Apes with around $8.65 million, adding to its winning ways of the past several weeks. Considering the number of new releases that have come out since its initial release, the fact that its held on this strongly is a good sign.

Round out the top 5 was the Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother. It only brought in $6.58 million off of a $5 million dollar budget. Factor in marketing costs and it still has a ways to go.

Notice that none of last weeks new releases held on to the top 5. Spy Kids 4 fell nearly 51% to land in sixth place with $5.7 million. Conan the Barbarian landed in eighth with a 69.1% decline to bring in a laughable $3.1 million. Despite landing in ninth place wih just over $3 million, Fright Night fared better as it only dropped off about 60% from its previous showing.

The only release for next weekend is The Debt, so it definitely looks like we are leaving the thrill of the summer releases.  Barring something highly unusual happening, I have a feeling The Help will enjoy a third weekend at the top.

There are bad weekends in the movie business, and then there are BAD WEEKENDS.  Anyone want to guess which one this one was?

It’s rare for a movie to rise to the #1 spot after multiple weeks on the chart, but that’s exactly what happened with The Help this weekend when it pulled in $20.5 million.  It slid only 21% from last weekend, which is impressive for any film these days, but in three weekends the movie has pulled in a total of $71.8 million off of a $25 million budget, it is well into the profit region.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes fell 41.4% to $16.5 million and now sits at $133.7 million for a domestic total.  Not too shabby, and the fact it hasn’t fallen further probably only strengthens the sequel talk that has already been circulating.

It’s in the number three region of the list that the bloodbath that was this weekend kicks in.  The top new release of the was Spy Kids 4 with an anemic $12 million. Despite it’s somewhat modest budget of $27 million, it’s going to have a hard time hitting the $54 million needed to consider it a success. Why this series even came back is beyond me, but the box office numbers definitely prove out that I was not alone in my confusion.

Conan the Barbarian landed with a thud in fourth place with $10 million.  Seeing as it had a $90 million budget, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see some news today of some executives being shown the door.  Jason Momoa in the title role always seemed a tad odd to me as he has no marquee titles to his name, and it’s doubtful anyone outside of Stargate: Atlantis fans even know who he is.

Coming in fifth was The Smurfs.  As if it wasn’t bad enough a couple weeks ago when it looked like this movie had beaten Cowboys & Aliens, this week the little blue creatures claimed another big name victim in the form of Fright Night. The kid friendly film pulled in another $8 million compared to the horror movie remake’s paltry $7.9 million. (I expect the final numbers to shift slightly)  Fright Night only had a $30 million dollar budget, but good luck making that back with this sort of debut.

If this weekend teaches us anything, it is next to impossible to predict what movie goes are in the mood for.  You could say remakes are now the kiss of death, but can’t you technically say then that Rise of the Planet of the Apes shouldn’t be doing so well?  Overall, something is afoot at the box office, and it’s time for the studios to be taking a few more lessons from these failures.

Next week will see three new releases, but none of them look like the type to take the box office by storm. Colombiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Our Idiot Brother all look set to ring out the end of the summer with a full thud.

This summer hasn’t seen many movies hold on to the top spot two weekends in a row, but Rise of the Planet of the Apes has joined that exclusive little club.

Falling 49.8% in its second weekend, Rise of the Planet of the Apes brought in an estimated $27.5 million to bring its domestic total to $104.8 million.  This has only increased talk over the past week of a potential sequel with several concepts already being thrown around as to what the story may be.  With a $93 million dollar budget, it still seems a bit premature, but that’s Hollywood for you.

Coming in second was The Help with an estimated $25.5 million. The film actually opened on Wednesday, so it’s total gross for the first five days is a healthy $35.3 million, but no word yet on what the production costs were. Speculation runs, however, that the film is doing very well, and is tracking ahead of similar releases of the past few years such as Julie & Julia.

Debuting in third position was Final Destination 5 with $18.4 million, and the first film in the series to open with a weaker weekend than its predecessor. Not a good sign for the aging horror franchise, so it looks like it may be time to consider retiring it.

The Smurfs had another bit of a surprising weekend, falling only 34.8% for its third weekend, and brining in another $13.5 million. You can all relax, a sequel has already been announced. I will now try to pretend to be shocked by this news … okay, that’s not working.

Rounding out the top five was the debut of 30 Minutes or Less with a paltry $13 million dollar take. This never bodes well for a new release. Take for instance, The Change-Up which opened in fourth last week with $15.7 million. It slid 54% this week to take the 10th spot with $6.2 million.

The big surprise for me was Glee The 3D Concert Movie opened in 11th with only $5.7 million. I really was expecting this one to be the dark horse of the week due to its television popularity, but no dice.

Next week is another big set of releases in terms of quantity.  Be on the lookout for Conan the Barbarian, Fright Night, One Day and Spy Kids 4.  The original Fright Night was one of my favorite 1980′s horror movies, so I’m not too thrilled to see this coming back.

Despite it being ten years since there was anything for the Planet of the Apes franchise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes took the top spot at the box office this weekend.

The original Planet of the Apes series ended in 1973, and the remake was released in 2001, so my feelings were that a prequel of sorts to a series most of today’s movie audience wasn’t that familiar with wouldn’t do well, but yet Rise of the Planet of the Apes brought in a healthy $54 million this weekend. Where this fits into the overall Apes mythos is odd in that is envisioned to be an origin story of sorts to the original 1968 film, it contradicts the fourth film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, that told of the rise of Ceaser. Seeing how the film did this weekend, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a whole new series launch out of this film. (Here ends my nerdy knowledge of the Planet of the Apes series.)

Coming in second was The Smurfs with a respectable 41% fall off in business from its opening to weekend to land with $21 million. Seeing as an average second weekend fall is 50%, this film is performing surprisingly well.

Not performing as well was last weeks top spot holder, Cowboys & Aliens which fell 56.8% to $15.7 million. The concept was unique for sure, but it appears that film goers were not all that interested in this concept.

The Change-Up opened up in fourth place with $15.7 million. Perhaps it is time for Hollywood to realize that people are bored with body swap stories, but it’s doubtful that will stop them from going back to this forumla time and time again.

Wrapping up the top five was Captain America: The First Avenger with $13 million in its third weekend.

Next week is a busy one with The Help opening on Wednesday and 30 Minutes or Less, Final Destination 5 and Glee The 3D Concert Movie hitting on the weekend.

Green Lantern?  Out of the theaters completely.  No more train wreck for us.

In what is sure to turn in to a day long battle of pennies, two films tied for the top box office spot this weekend: Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs.

One thing to remember with these top box office reports each week is they are based off of estimates until much later in the day on Monday.  The projections are usually fairly accurate, but when you have two films tie for the top spot, you end up with a day long battle of furious accounting to figure out which one actually came out on top.

Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs are both initially reporting box office receipts of $36.2 million.  No matter what, the former was expecting a bigger weekend more in the range of $45 million, but the latter actually came in a bit ahead.

Captain America: The First Avenger took a 62 percent hit, falling to $24.9 million.  This keeps it ahead of Thor, but not by much.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 came in fourth, falling another 54 percent to $21.9 million. It became the top grossing film in the series on Friday, and has also passed $1 billion globally, but it is running behind based on attendance. This has got to become the leading metric someday for the business side of things over the finances.

Coming in in firth place was the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love which brought in $19.3 million.

Green Lantern? 26th place with $166,000 for a new domestic total of $114.3 million. For a fun comparison, Thor came out more than a month earlier and was in 23rd place with $203,000.

Next week sees the release of The Change-Up and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I know next to nothing about the first one, but I really have no clue how the prequel to the Planet of the Apes will do. It seems like a really odd pull at this point.

UPDATE: Cowboys & Aliens brought in $36.4 million to The Smurfs $35.6.  

Adding to Green Lantern’s shame, Rio – an animated move released in April and coming out on DVD tomorrow – played in more theaters and brought in $560 more.

The first trailer for the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes has hit, and all I have to ask is, “why?”

Between 1968 and 1973, there were five films in the Planet of the Apes series.  There was a remake of the original film released in 2001 that was less than successful, so it makes total sense that you should do yet another remake that is also being viewed as a prequel/origin story for another series of Apes films.  Here’s the trailer for the film.

Essentially this is similar to the fourth film in the original series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which tells the story of how a chimpanzee named Ceaser ends up leading the revolt that eventually leads to ape kind being the dominant species on Earth.  While it is not technically part of the original series, it will just be another take on what happened before the world went mad.

While I love the original series, I’m not sure how ready the world is to go back into this story.  And more importantly, do we need to?  While I enjoyed the first five films, is there really any reason to follow this story line again?  The first ones were a commentary on man’s tendency towards self-destruction and oppression, and this one looks to be about science gone mad.  These are very different tracks to take and are going to lead to very different places.

The overall thought for me, however, is that no matter what the theme is, there is just no reason to follow this concept yet again.  Thanks, Hollywood for once again raiding my childhood needlessly.