After last week’s big box office battle between “Cowboys & Aliens” and “The Smurfs,” the first weekend in August proved to be less suspenseful as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” dominated the box office.

The film, which stars James Franco and is a prequel to “Planet of the Apes,” earned an estimated $54 million to open as the No. 1 movie for the weekend.

While the film outperformed studio expectations, it still fell below the $68.5 million opening of Tim Burton’s “Planet of the Apes” remake 10 years ago.