Box Office Weekend Box Office Rundown

The utter lack of any wide releases next weekend plus the likely downward plunge for Breaking Dawn part I means that The Muppets will likely top the box office next weekend. There clearly is an audience for this 35-year-old franchise.

In a somewhat surprising turn, Real Steel repeated at the top of the box office, defeating a Footloose remake and a prequel to The Thing.

There were two major releases this weekend, and both of them more-or-less did what was expected of them. Disney/Dreamworks unleashed the robot-boxing/father-son drama Real Steel, which easily topped the weekend.

As expected, the summer reached its climax this weekend with an ugly pileup, as four new releases failed to achieve anything resembling success, with three of those releases being in 3D and two of them chasing the exact same demographics.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes dropped 'just' 49% in its second weekend, which was strong enough to once again claim the top spot at the box office.

While not quite as mighty as the first series reboot ten years earlier, Rise of the Planet of the Apes had a muscular debut big enough to easily win the weekend.