MUMBAI: 20th Century Fox‘s Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened to $54 million at the domestic box office, 20 million more than the best forecast.

Overseas, the film exceeded expectations too, grossing a robust $23.4 million from 25 territories, including four major markets like Australia, Spain, Russia and Taiwan, where it topped the box office charts.

Directed by Rupert Wyatt and starring James Franco, Rise premiered in at least nine markets with Spain ($5.2 million from 517 sites), Australia ($5.1 million from 359 locations) and Russia ($5.09 million from 1,012 situations) leading the list.

Fox said weekend action exceeded expectations "given only four of the top 15 international markets are in release."
 
Rise of the Apes is particularly drawing notice for its photo-realistic apes created by Peter Jackson‘s Weta Digital using advanced performance capture technology. "The combination of never-before-seen special effects combined with a powerful, emotional story made for a supremely satisfying epxerience at the movies," Fox senior vice president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson said.

Thanks to a great debut, which Warner Bros. estimates at $25.5 million drawn from 4,200 venues, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 remained at the top spot grossing $61.8 million from 15,632 screens in 61 markets.

Finishing at No. 3 on the weekend was Marvel Studios‘ Captain America: The First Avenger has gone past the $100-million overseas gross mark ($103 million) since it began its foreign run on 22 July. Worldwide, the film has registered $246.2 million.

Latest weekend, the film drew $27.5 million from 5,037 locations in 41 territories, bolstered by openings in Spain ($2.5 million from 381 spots), Hong Kong and Israel. The film opens in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and India this week.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, that opened offshore on 29 June has till date totally grossed $693.5 million. The film pulled $17.5 million from 10,680 venues in 62 markets including strong holdovers in Japan and China and a No. 1 bow in Indonesia ($1.8 million from 98 locations) last weekend.