Fake cops? Not a threat. Oldish action movie stars? Puleeese. A teen with strange and terrifying insights? If you want to topple a quartet of highly trained, mutagen-powered reptiles, you gotta do better than that.
Moviegoers shelled out an estimated $28.4 million to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sending the mutants to the top of the box office for the second straight week. Sure, some terrapin fans splintered off for other weekend activities: TMNT lost about 57% of its first-weekend audience. But that didn’t stop Leonardo, Donatello, et al from shredding a bevy of newcomers hoping to steal some of their fiscal pizza.
Even if Turtles had gone into a shell this weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy would’ve been there to pick up the leavings. Marvel’s rock-em sock-em sci-fi story made another $24.7 million for a return trip to second place. In fewer than three weeks, Guardians has earned nearly $222.3 million in North America and become the year’s sixth highest-grossing movie, just $10 million behind Marvel stablemate X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Speaking of Marvel, we should perhaps take a moment to (ahem) marvel at the year that the brand has had this far. The Disney-owned comic-book franchise has been the source of four of the year’s seven biggest money-makers. Marvel’s other entrants are Captain America: The Winter Soldier at No. 1 ($259.7 million) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at No. 7 ($202.8 million).
Between the Turtles and the Guardians, the week’s wave of newcomers never stood much of a chance. Let’s Be Cops, a foul and silly R-rated comedy, scored the biggest debut, earning a wan $17.7 million. While probably not enough to automatically greenlight a sequel (Let’s Be Highway Patrolmen?), it did manage to best the star-saturated actioner The Expendables 3. Despite boasting practically every movie star from the Reagan administration, the flick woefully underperformed, earning just $16.2 million. Perhaps audiences are beginning to take the Expendables movies at their word.
The Giver, a story based on Lois Lowry’s much-acclaimed children’s story, closed out the Top Five with $12.8 million.
Final figures update: 1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, $28.5 million; 2. Guardians of the Galaxy, $25.1 million; 3. Let’s Be Cops, $17.8 million; 4. The Expendables 3, $15.9 million; 5. The Giver, $12.3 million.
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