TMNT Shows Power At The US Box Office

The first glimpse of the title characters may have been a little off-putting, and the critics were not kind to the rest of the film, but American audiences were clearly ready to embrace Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael once more as those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles scored a strong $65 million launch across the pond this weekend, according to studio estimates.

Easily the best opening for any Turtles title, the freshly rebooted, CG-festooned Michael Bay production soared to the top of the charts, displacing Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy. Those interstellar heroes continued to do well, even if they couldn’t make it two weeks at the top. Star Lord ("Who?") and co. earned $41.5 million this weekend, a 56% drop, which is about average for that sort of film. The latest Marvel movie is now past $313 million worldwide (so much for being a risky move), and it held off the rest of the new competition, with Warners’ tornado thriller Into The Storm touching down in third place, sucking in $18 million from the box office. That potentially bodes well given the film’s relatively low $50 million budget.

Launching in fourth was The Hundred-Foot Journey, with the Helen Mirren-starring culinary comedy drama ringing up $11.1 million, ahead of Luc Besson’s brain-expanding drama Lucy, which dropped 48% for $9.3 million in fifth (down from second) and scrapes towards the $100 million mark in the US.

The fifth dance-focused film in the long-running franchise, Step Up All In landed sixth, taking in $6.5 million. It represents the weakest opening by far for the series, making a sixth installment doubtful - but it did seem strangely unheralded by the studio.

Dwayne Johnson's Hercules fell to seventh with $5.7 million and with $63 million in the domestic bank appears unlikely to achieve $100 million. It has earned $135 million worldwide, which still seems like an underperformance for its muscular star. James Brown biopic Get On Up sank to eighth place with $5 million, while Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes fell to ninth in its fifth week, adding $4.4 million for a $197.8 million US total and a likely $200 million domestically. At 10th we find Planes: Fire And Rescue, taking home $2.4 million.