Box Office Update: Substantial "Rise" as summer falls

I know it's strange, but I miss this site being, or at least feeling, important. Across the past few weeks I've fallen into a bit of a slump, and I am dearly sorry for that. I'm not in a very endearing or motivating environment, so that makes me feel quite often like I'd rather do nothing. So for the next few weeks leading up to September you're going to be seeing a major resurgence in activity on the site. I'm going to try to talk about something every day, even if there's nothing to talk about in the news. I'm going to get back to my roots of indulging in more trivial news for the sake of anger and enjoyable reading.

So now on to the box office, which was surging this weekend. I'll be getting to my thoughts on Rise of the Planet of the Apes soon enough, and though I'm not quite ecstatic about it, it is better than the film that debuted in this frame last year, The Other Guys. I was surprised by how well the film played with audiences, and should continue to play in the coming weeks of the summer. With little competition in its way, it could have stood out as a sleeper hit if the opening wasn't so great. It still could stick out in that way, but that's for next weekend to tell.

The rest of the box office was successful, but disappointing due to the films they belonged to. The Smurfs rose to $76 million, beating out Cowboys and Aliens after an indecisive finish last weekend. The latter film rests a gulf of $10 million behind, and that gap will only increase in the coming weeks. The Change-Up happily disappointed, with one of the lowest opening for a comedy this summer. Ryan Reynolds has not had a good summer, nor has he deserved one. Captain America still lags slightly behind Thor, but is generally positive at the present time.

Deathly Hallows: Part 2 came dangerously close to passing Transformers this weekend as the highest grossing pic of the year. It should go all the way before the week is out. In summation, if this is the end of the blockbuster summer, it does go out with more of a bang than a whimper.

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (First Weekend; $54 million)

2. The Smurfs (Second Weekend; $21 million)

3. Cowboys and Aliens (Second Weekend; $15.7 million)

4. The Change-Up (First Weekend; $13.5 million)

5. Captain America (Third Weekend; $13 million)

6. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Fourth Weekend; $12.2 million)

7. Crazy, Stupid, Love (Second Weekend; $12.1 million)

8. Friends with Benefits (Third Weekend; $4.7 million)

9. Horrible Bosses (Fifth Weekend; $4.6 million)

10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Sixth Weekend; $3 million)