NEW YORK – The summer box office continued to lack mojo, as the R-rated Sex Tape failed to turn on moviegoers on a weekend where Dawn of the Planet of the Apes maintained its rule.
The science fiction sequel outmuscled a trio of new films to top the North American box office for the second-straight week with $36 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The acclaimed sequel to 2011’s reboot of the chimp franchise has now made $139 million domestically in two weeks.
Its closest competion over the weekend was the home-invasion horror thriller The Purge: Anarchy, written and directed by James DeMoncaco. The low-budget sequel to last year’s surprise hit, The Purge, opened with $28.4 million, down from the $34.1 million the original scared up on opening weekend.
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But Anarchy, which imagines an America where all crime is legal for 12 hours every year, was made for only $9 million, making it immediately profitable. Such success is the envy of most movies, particularly Sex Tape, a starrier, more expensive release that opened with $15 million.
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The Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz R-rated comedy failed to turn on moviegoers or critics. Sex Tape, in which a married couple makes a pornographic home video to stoke the flames of their lagging sex life, came in fourth place behind Planes: Fire & Rescue. The animated sequel to 2013’s Cars-offshoot, Planes, opened with $18 million.
In a limited release of 68 theatres, Zach Braff’s crowd-funded Wish I Was Here also arrived with a tiny weekend opening of $495,000. The film, Braff’s directorial follow-up to 2004’s Garden State, was much criticized for depending on fan contributions for funding. Wish I Was Here will expand to more theatres next week, but it is sure to fall far short of the $26.8 million Garden State earned.
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