Disney and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has once again achieved the number one spot at the box office to become the year’s highest grossing release in the U.S.
The sci-fi action film topped the charts for the third time and grossed $16.3 million over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday period, and will likely end with $21.2 million at the end of the Labor Day weekend. The grand domestic total for the film has reached over $274.6 million. Following in second is Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with $11.7 million.
“The summer of 2014 was confounding, it was exasperating, and it was a transition between one record summer in 2013 and what everyone believes will be a record summer in 2015,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak.
Newcomers November Man and As Above, So Below were both modestly produced, and in return brought in modest debuts with $7.7 million and $8.3 million, respectively.
Relativity’s espionage thriller The November Man, featuring Pierce Brosnan, cost $20 million to produce and debuted in sixth place at the box office.
It follows an ex-CIA agent who is lured out of retirement for one last mission to protect a witness. He then becomes pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high-level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
The action film skewed older, with 83% of its audience over the age of 25, and its opening crowd was 55% male. In contrast, As Above, So Below sought after younger crowds, with 64 percent of ticket buyers ranking under 25 years old.
Universal’s found-footage thriller cost $5 million to produce, and managed to place in fourth following teen tearjerker If I Stay with $9.3 million. The story follows a team of explorers that uncover dark forces when they venture into the catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: August 29-31
- Guardians of the Galaxy – $16.3 million
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $11.8 million
- If I Stay – $9.3 million
- As Above, So Below – $8.3 million
- Let’s Be Cops – $8.2 million
- The November Man – $7.7 million
- When The Game Stands Tall – $5.7 million
- The Giver – $5.3 million
- The Hundred-Foot Journey – $4.6 million
- The Expendables 3 – $3.5 million
