The latest Apes film has begun with a solid £5.22m, and £7.20m including previews for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
For only the second time since April, four films took more than £2m at the weekend: War for the Planet of the Apes, Despicable Me 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Cars 3.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, with a total of £32.7m in the UK, was the fifth biggest hit of 2014 – a year notably light on major box-office winners.
Its total was an impressive 4.6 times its opening weekend number, indicating strong audience satisfaction and powerful word of mouth.