PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Last weekend it was cowboys and aliens and smurfs.  This weekend it was apes.

Dominating the box office, that is.  The prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with James Franco, finished first on its debut weekend, earning an estimated $54-million.

Second and third were last weekend’s co-leaders, holdovers The Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens, with totals of $21-million and $16-million, respectively.

Fourth place went to the weekend’s other new mainstream attraction, the body-swapping fantasy-comedy, The Change-Up, starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds, which opened with a take of $14-million.

Overall, with as many as seven films topping the $10-million mark, it was a robust box-office weekend, well ahead of last year’s industry totals.

Reported by Bill Wine, KYW Newsradio 1060