'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' $73M Opening Wakes Up Box Office

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" opened with a whopping $73 million at the weekend box office, but it remains to be seen if it will it be enough to perk up a fizzling summer movie season. Despite the film's big debut, the overall downward trend at the box office this summer continued. The weekend box office was down nearly 24% from the same weekend last year, according to Rentrak. Last year was a record year for the movie industry with seven films pulling in more than $200 million, but this year, not only are the blockbusters missing from the box office, but films' revenues are dropping off after their initial weeks.