The apes are taking over the box office ... 'cause "The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" is pulling big money on opening weekend -- headed for $50m+.

According to The Hollywood Reporter ... 'KOTPOTA' made just north of $22 million Friday, and the outlet's projecting the film to make between $52M and 56M domestically by Monday.

Producers of the film can bang their chests even harder too ... 'cause apparently 'Planet of the Apes' movies crush it internationally too -- so, the overall haul's probably gonna be a heck of a lot bigger.

Some projections put it at $80 million when factoring in international gross ... of course, the picture cost $160 million to make -- not including it's most likely astronomical marketing budget -- so a long way off from breaking even.

Remember ... just last month, actors hit Venice Beach on horseback in full costume to plug the new film -- and, ya can't pay for stunts like that with bananas.

'Kingdom' is the fourth installment in the new 'Planet of the Apes' reboot franchise ... falling up 2017's "War for the Planet of the Apes." The film takes places 300 years after the last offering.

Owen Teague, Freya Allen, William H. Macy, and Kevin Durand star in the new movie which critics are loving BTW ... the movie's got an 80% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Basically, the news 'Apes' film has made the box office its domain!!!