What do you get when you combine four CGI turtles, actress Megan Fox and producer Michael Bay? Answer: $65.6 million for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ opening weekend, enough to buy those iconic half-shelled adolescent martial arts experts a lot of pizza. That figure, it turns out, was about $20 million more than industry experts had expected. Turtle power indeed.
The rebooted franchise’s surprisingly robust box office performance (the fourth best August opening ever) drew from two generations of fans: those who came of age with Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello back in the ’80s and ’90s, and a younger group of fans turned on to TMNT through Nickelodeon’s current animated series.
Just as he’s done with the Transformers franchise, producer Michael Bay has once again figured out a way to alchemically convert nostalgia—55% of Ninja Turtle ticket buyers were over the age of 25—into cold hard cash. “The film obviously had greater-than-expected appeal to nostalgic parents,” Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian told USA Today. No surprise that Paramount has already announced a TMNT sequel.
The Turtles shellacked Guardians of the Galaxy, which took in $41.1 million—a 55% drop compared to its debut last weekend. That said, Marvel’s latest superhero outing still managed the best second weekend of the summer and pushed its strong 10-day cume to a bit more than $176 million. That means Rocket Raccoon may yet have the last laugh over the masked tortoises when summer’s total receipts are ultimately tallied.
More computer-generated mayhem, this time in the form of digitally destructive tornadoes, powered Into the Storm‘s third-place performance. The disaster flick whipped up an estimated $18 million in a debut not nearly as blustery as its rodent and reptile competitors.
Helen Mirren’s food-fixated film The Hundred-Foot Journey satiated the appetites of moviegoers looking for something less action-oriented and more down to earth. This winsome story about clashing cultures managed to cook up $11 million. Plugged In’s Paul Asay said of the PG-rated indie drama, “The Hundred-Foot Journey, based on the novel of the same name by Richard C. Morais, is a sweet and savory treat of a film with only hints of content-derived sourness—a love story ragoût of romance, family and food.”
It’s back to action, though, for slot No. 5, with Scarlett Johansson’s Lucy corralling another $9.5 million in that film’s third weekend. The week’s only other newcomer, Step Up All In, mustered just $6.5 million domestically (good for sixth place) but a comparatively whopping $37.7 million overseas, suggesting that there are likely more such Steps to come.
Next week, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and virtually every other gun-wielding actor of the last three decades will go turtle and raccoon hunting in the inexplicably PG-13-rated Expendables 3.
Recent Comments