I don’t think movie studios are even trying anymore.
It’s been five weeks since Guardians of the Galaxy was released to the masses, and the thing still is beating down all comers, financially speaking—as if Drax had put his muscle to crunching numbers instead of villainous thugs or Groot was using his excess bark to print money. Oh, sure, it played second fiddle to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a couple weeks back, but even then the titles were more like No. 1 and No. 1A. And now Guardians has officially become the biggest movie of the year.
Marvel’s band of misfit heroes collected an estimated $17.1 million over the traditional three-day weekend—$22.2 million if you count Monday’s Labor Day earnings—to coast to its third box office win in five weeks. Guardians of the Galaxy has now earned $275.4 million this year, leaping past fellow Marvel superhero Captain America: The Winter Soldier to lead the 2014 pack.
It didn’t hurt that the competition was so weak this week, of course.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showed some reptilian legs of its own, earning $11.9 million ($15.7 million including Labor Day) to finish second. Yet another holdover, If I Stay, locked down third place with a $9.3 million weekend.
You don’t run into a new movie until No. 4, with the R-rated horror flick As Above/So Below. The fire-drenched creepfest earned above $8.6 million, but finished well below the front-runners.
Let’s Be Cops, which earned $8.3 million for fifth place, kept Pierce Brosnan’s new spy thriller The November Man out of the Top Five. The latter’s $7.9 million worth of grosses may have left Brosnan’s future in the genre shaken, not stirred.
Final figures update: 1. Guardians of the Galaxy, $17.1 million; 2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, $11.9 million; 3. If I Stay, $9.3 million; 4. As Above/So Below, $8.6 million; 5. Let’s Be Cops, $8.3 million; 6. The November Man, $7.9 million.
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