Three new movies had hoped to vie for the #1 spot at the box office this weekend, but none of them could get those damn turtles to hide in their shells.
In its second week, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ managed to defend the top spot. Slipping just 56% in attendance (which is much better than most other blockbusters this summer), the Michael Bay-produced reboot added another $28.4 million to its run, giving it a nice $117.6 million ten-day total. As the film slowly rolls out to international markets, the numbers it’s pulling overseas are comparable to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, if not better.
Speaking of which, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ remained in second place due to strong holdover and a smaller-than-expected 41% drop-off. In its third week, the Marvel property earned another $24.7 million, bringing its 17-day total up to $222.2 million. That’s much better than the $206.3 million that ‘Thor: The Dark World‘ bowed with and puts it on track to outgross the $259.7 million for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’.
The strongest of the new releases was ‘Let’s Be Cops‘. That’s surprising for an R-rated comedy. The Wednesday debut should have stolen some of its steam, and the movie is headlined by two actors without any real star power. ‘Cops’ earned an impressive $8.4 million on Wednesday and Thursday and locked in another $17.7 million from the actual weekend. After five days, the comedy has earned $26.1 million. What do you think Fox will do for the sequel? Have the two dress up as football players for a costume party, only to be mistaken as real football players who have to help the team save the day? Call it ‘Let’s Be Jocks’.
Estimated to contend with ‘Turtles’ and ‘Guardians’ for the number one spot, Sly Stallone and his Expendables wound up in fourth place. From 3,221 screens, ‘The Expendables 3‘ grossed $16.2 million. That’s down $18.6 million from the first ‘Expendables’ movie’s opening and $12.3 million from the second’s. It looks like that PG-13 rating did more damage than good, pushing away the fans and hardly pulling in any new, younger ones. Do you think ‘The Expendabellas’ will still happen?
Rounding out the Top 5 was the Weinstein Company’s barely-marketed YA adaptation ‘The Giver‘. Its $12.7 million debut would seem like a bigger flop had the picture not cost just $25 million to make. Imagine what that debut would have looked like without the stunt-casting of Taylor Swift.
The numbers for indie release ‘Frank’ have yet to be announced, but ‘Life After Beth‘ performed moderately well from two locations, with $18,000 in total and a per-screen average of $9,000.
Top 10:
1. ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (Paramount) – $28,400,000
2. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Buena Vista) – $24,735,000
3. ‘Let’s Be Cops’ (Fox) – $17,700,000
4. ‘The Expendables 3’ (Lionsgate) – $16,200,000
5. ‘The Giver’ (Weinstein) – $12,760,000
6. ‘Into the Storm’ (Warner Bros.) – $7,720,000
7. ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ (Buena Vista) – $7,109,000
8. ‘Lucy’ (Universal) – $5,317,000
9. ‘Step Up All In’ (Lionsgate) – $2,700,000
10. ‘Boyhood’ (IFC) – $2,150,000
