Movies
Box Office Recap: ‘TMNT’ Debuts With $65 Million
Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted with an outstanding $65 million domestically and $97.3 million globally over the weekend.
The action-adventure film earned a B CinemaScore and defeated Guardians of the Galaxy for the top spot at the box office, while also scoring the title for the fourth-biggest August debut in history. It joins The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.3 million), Rush Hour 2 ($67.4 million), and Guardians ($94.3 million). In its second week, Guardians fell 56 percent taking in $41.5 million for a domestic total of $175.9 million.
“Guardians is a great movie and it’s always tough to come right behind a great movie,” said Megan Colligan, president of domestic marketing and distribution for Paramount. “Ultimately we played more like a family film and they played a notch older. … The great thing about summer is the marketplace is able to expand to allow for these two films.”
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, TMNT stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Danny Woodburn, Abby Elliott, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson and Minae Noji. It is based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.
“To know moviegoers are embracing the Turtles with such enthusiasm is everything that we and all our filmmakers have been hoping for. Along with our partners Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes, and of course Cyma Zarghami and everyone at Nickelodeon, we are thrilled with this weekend’s result, the enduring power of this franchise, and the opportunity to make another one,” said Paramount chief Brad Grey.
With the incredible success of the family friendly film, Grey and producer Michael Bay have already announced plans for a sequel to hit theaters June 3, 2016.
Coming in third place at the box office is director Steven Quale’s tornado film Into the Storm with a disappointing $18 million when it premiered across 3,434 screens this weekend.
In fourth place is DreamWorks’ The Hundred-Foot Journey, about dueling French and Indian chefs, which opened to $11.2 million in 2,023 theaters and earned an A CinemaScore from moviegoers. The film was directed by Lasse Hallstrom and was based on the book by Richard C. Morais.
Scarlett Johansson’s drug-enhanced thriller film Lucy held fifth place with $9.3 million and now stands at $97.4 million domestically. Following is Summit Entertainment’s Step Up All In, the fifth installment in the dance franchise, which debuted to $6.6 million in 2,072 locations.
See what films made the top 10 list at the box office this weekend by clicking “Next”!
10. Planes: Fire & Rescue – $2.4 million
Film Synopsis
When world-famous air racer Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he must shift gears and is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his team, a bunch of all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers. Together, the fearless team battles a massive wildfire, and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero.
9. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – $4.4 million
Film Synopsis
A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.
8. Get On Up – $5 million
Film Synopsis
In his follow-up to the four-time Academy Award (R)-nominated blockbuster The Help, Tate Taylor directs 42’s Chadwick Boseman as James Brown in Get on Up. Based on the incredible life story of the Godfather of Soul, the film will give a fearless look inside the music, moves and moods of Brown, taking audiences on the journey from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.
7. Hercules – $5.7 million
Film Synopsis
Everyone knows the legend of Hercules and his twelve labors. Our story begins after the labors, and after the legend… Haunted by a sin from his past, Hercules has become a mercenary. Along with five faithful companions, he travels ancient Greece selling his services for gold and using his legendary reputation to intimidate enemies. But when the benevolent ruler of Thrace and his daughter seek Hercules’ help to defeat a savage and terrifying warlord, Hercules finds that in order for good to triumph and justice to prevail… he must again become the hero he once was… he must embrace his own myth… he must be Hercules.
6. Step Up All In – $6.6. million
Film Synopsis
In the next exciting chapter of the international phenomenon Step Up, all-stars from previous installments come together in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.
5. Lucy – $9.3 million
Film Synopsis
From La Femme Nikita and The Professional to The Fifth Element, writer/director Luc Besson has created some of the toughest, most memorable female action heroes in cinematic history. Now, Besson directs Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, an action-thriller that tracks a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
4. The Hundred-Foot Journey – $11.1 million
Film Synopsis
In The Hundred-Foot Journey, Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, it is both picturesque and elegant – the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award (R)-winner Helen Mirren), gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own, escalate to all out war between the two establishments – until Hassan’s passion for French haute cuisine and for Mme. Mallory’s enchanting sous chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), combine with his mysteriously delicious talent to weave magic between their two cultures and imbue Saint-Antonin with the flavors of life that even Mme. Mallory cannot ignore. At first Mme. Mallory’s culinary rival, she eventually recognizes Hassan’s gift as a chef and takes him under her wing.
3. Into the Storm – $18 million
Film Synopsis
In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime shot. Told through the eyes and lenses of professional storm chasers, thrill-seeking amateurs, and courageous townspeople, Into the Storm throws you directly into the eye of the storm to experience Mother Nature at her most extreme.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – $41.5 million
Film Synopsis
From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team-the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $65 million
Film Synopsis
The city needs heroes. Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) to save the city and unravel Shredder’s diabolical plan.