Apes hangs on at box office

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes remained at the top of the US box office this weekend.

The Matt Reeves-directed action drama raked in $36 million domestically, bringing its two-week total to nearly $240.5 million worldwide, according to early estimates.

Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman and Keri Russell star in the latest instalment of the sci-fi franchise, about a nation of genetically evolved apes fighting a battle with humans.

The Purge: Anarchy debuted at two with nearly $28.4 million.

Frank Grillo and Zach Gilford star in the James DeMonaco-directed follow-up to 2013 horror flick The Purge, about a 12-hour period in which all crime is legalised.

Animated adventure comedy Planes: Fire & Rescue flew in at three with $18 million.

Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen and Curtis Armstrong are among actors lending their voices to the high-flying cast of characters in the story of a crop-dusting plane named Dusty as he joins fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger to battle a huge wildfire.

Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel’s Sex Tape limped in at four.

The Jake Kasdan film raked in $15 million this weekend, getting moviegoers chuckling about a married couple whose sex tape mysteriously goes missing.

Transformers: Age of Extinction rounds out the top five with $10 million.

The Michael Bay action flick, starring Nicola Peltz, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, TJ Miller, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer, has raked more than $886.3 million worldwide in the last four weeks, making it the first film of 2014 to near the $1 billion mark, according to The Hollywood Reporter.