Sometimes, slow and steady wins the race. Every turtle with a meager knowledge of Aesop knows that. Funny that a quartet of speedy turtles got a little refresher course from a sentient tree.
After finishing second to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for two straight weeks, Guardians of the Galaxy climbed back into the box office’s top spot and became, officially, the highest-grossing movie of the summer.
Granted, the final figures weren’t all that impressive. Guardians earned just an estimated $17.6 million—the most meager take for a box office victor since Ride Along won the Feb. 2 derby with a paltry $12 million. But, hey, a win is a win. And with $251.9 million in their cumulative North American coffers, Groot, Gamora et al stand ready to make Guardians the biggest movie of the year. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and its $259.8 million is less than $8 million away. That’s reason enough to make a killer mixtape, I’d say.
But mourn not for your heroes on a half shell. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles simply swapped places with Guardians, collecting another $16.8 million for a second-place finish. It was enough to hold off newcomer If I Stay, which settled for third with $16.4 mil.
It was, honestly, a pretty rough week for newbies. If the week’s box office were a high school, If I Stay earned just enough to snag a spot at the cool kids’ table at the cafeteria. Meanwhile, the football-themed, Christian-tinged drama When the Game Stands Tall decided to hang around with the jocks, of course, collecting about $9 million, finishing behind Let’s Be Cops ($11 million) to round out the Top Five.
And it still did way better than Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Frank Miller’s explicit new-noir nightmare earned a paltry $6.5 million. That’s 76% lower than what the original Sin City made, according to Box Office Mojo—and that was nine years ago, when folks could still buy a turkey dinner for a nickel. It finished behind both The Giver and last week’s bomb The Expendables 3. We’d like to think that A Dame to Kill For’s failure is due to sin just not selling like it used to … but methinks that might be just a little too optimistic.
Final figures update: 1. Guardians of the Galaxy, $17.2 million; 2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, $16.7 million; 3. If I Stay, $15.7 million; 4. Let’s Be Cops, $10.8 million; 5. When the Game Stands Tall, $8.4 million.
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