This weekend marks the second in a row for huge August debuts. Last week’s was due to consumer confidence in the Marvel brand and this week’s was due to nostalgia.
Expected to finish neck-and-neck with Marvel’s week-old ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ actually took the #1 spot’ with a $23 million lead. The Michael Bay-produced franchise reboot opened to an impressive $65 million. While the movie only broke into a few international markets, it’s looking to do very good business as it rolls out overseas.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ slipped 56% to earn $41.5 million, which is the best second weekend of the summer. After ten days, the Marvel misfit title has grossed $175.9 million, the best ten-day total of any movie in 2014. Overseas, ‘Guardians’ added another $40.1 million, which brings its international run up to $137 million. Disney’s unlikely action movie has now pulled in $313 million worldwide.
Warner’s $50 million ‘Into the Storm‘ opened in the #3 spot to $18 million. That’s nothing compared to the $41 million that ‘Twister’ debuted to 18 years ago. At this point, ‘Into the Storm’ is estimated to bow around the $50 million mark.
The food-based drama ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey‘ opened in fourth place with $11.1 million. That’s not horrible for a barely-advertised $22 million movie, but Disney surely wanted it to perform better.
Three-week-old ‘Lucy‘ rounded out the Top 5 by adding another $9.3 million to its haul, which is now up to $97 million. By the end of the week, the insane sci-fi action movie will cross the $100 million mark.
The fifth picture in the ‘Step Up’ franchise debuted 44% lower than the fourth. Hopefully, the $6.5 million sixth place opening for ‘Step Up All In‘ will be the nail in this franchise’s coffin.
The documentary about James Cameron making his documentary ‘Aliens of the Deep’ sank at the box office. On 304 screens around the U.S., ‘James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge 3D‘ only pulled in $150,900, which averages out to a mere $496 per screen.
Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan’s ‘What If‘ opened stronger than Cameron’s doc, but not as high as expected. From 20 locations, the indie romantic comedy nabbed $130,000 for a $6,500 per-screen average. It will be interesting to see how this one performs when it expands this weekend.
Top 10:
1. ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (Paramount) – $65,000,000
2. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Buena Vista) – $41,531,000
3. ‘Into the Storm’ (Warner Bros.) – $18,015,000
4. ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ (Buena Vista) – $11,123,000
5. ‘Lucy’ (Universal) – $9,331,000
6. ‘Step Up All In’ (Lionsgate) – $6,575,000
7. ‘Hercules’ (Paramount) – $5,700,000
8. ‘Get On Up’ (Universal) – $5,012,000
9. ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ (Fox) – $4,400,000
10. ‘Planes: Fire & Rescue’ (Buena Vista) – $2,419,000
Chaz Dumbaugh
I wouldnt say that Turtles did so well because of Nostalgia, the latest Nickelodeon cartoon has been pretty popular and I have friends whose kids love the new Turtles. I’m sure a good chunk went to see it because they have been fans since the 80s (such as myself) but I wouldnt underestimate their popularity with the current generation of kids
Luke Hickman
I didn’t realize that it had become so popular with the new generation. My girls have seen the commercials for it here and there, but know it from the old movies more than the series. Maybe it’s a boy thing? Who knows. But I took my daughter to the new movie and she said that the old ones are still her favorite.
David Strohmenger
The show’s really popular. If you had been looking for the figures around the holidays, the Turtles sections were pretty much wiped out. There’s a ton of other merchandise too, Apparel, sticker albums, dog tags, and a lot more now since the back to school stuff is out.
NJScorpio
He has tortoise shell glasses….lol!
I’m looking forward to getting this on Blu-Ray 3D. Hell, I remember seeing the original two in theaters.