LOS ANGELES, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Disney and 20th Century Studios' sci-fi film "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" dominated the North American box office with an estimated cume of 56.5 million U.S. dollars on its opening weekend, figures from data firm Comscore showed Sunday.

The film is the latest chapter in the Planet of the Apes franchise following three groundbreaking films, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" in 2011, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" in 2014, and "War for the Planet of the Apes" in 2017, which have brought in a combined 1.6 billion dollars at the worldwide box office.

Directed by Wes Ball, the film takes place many generations after the events of "War for the Planet of the Apes" and tells the story of a young ape's harrowing journey across a new empire.

The film has earned an approval rating of 81 percent based on 225 reviews to date on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, and a "B" on an "A+" to "F" scale from audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore.

Universal Pictures' action comedy film "The Fall Guy" came in second with 13.7 million dollars on its second weekend. The film now has a North American cume of 49.7 million dollars.

Rounding out the Top 3, Amazon MGM Studios' romantic sports film "Challengers" earned 4.68 million dollars on its third weekend for a North American cume of 38.1 million dollars through Sunday.