August 11, 2014 by Paul Curtin
Box office estimates had suggested that last weekend’s showdown between the space Avengers and turtles in a half-shell was going to be close, but even after very positive word of mouth for Guardians of the Galaxy and terrible reviews for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bay’s latest easily took the top spot.
The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which currently holds a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, far exceeded predictions that it would open around $40 million and ended up opening with a strong $65 million. The success of turtles over the weekend isn’t much of a surprise considering that Transformers: Age of Extinction scored even worse with critics and opened even higher just a month ago.
Guardians of the Galaxy on the other hand did just as predicted, dropping 56% to $42 million and staying on par with previous recent Marvel films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World.
Also opening this weekend and in third place, Into the Storm pulled in $18 million. Director Steven Quale’s latest disaster movie’s box office opening was equal to his last, Final Destination 5, back in 2011.
Here are the numbers for the top five of the domestic box office over the weekend via BOM:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Weekend Gross: $65 million (new)
- Guardians of the Galaxy — Weekend Gross: $42 million — Total Gross: $177 million (#1 last week)
- Into the Storm — Weekend Gross: $18 million (new)
- The Hundred Foot Journey — Weekend Gross: $10 million (new)
- Lucy — Weekend Gross: $9 million — Total Gross: $98 million (#2 last week)
