Box Office: ‘TMNT’ Scores $4.6M Thursday Night

It’s a solid start for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, after it took in $4.6 million at the box office from Thursday night screenings.

The live-action adventure film, which debuted in approximately 2,651 locations, is predicted to make an estimated $50 million over the weekend, according to Paramount. Despite its PG-13 rating, the film is seemingly appealing towards families. To compare, family title Maleficent earned $4.2 million when it debuted Thursday night and totaled with $69.4 million domestically over the weekend.

Director Jonathan Liebsman’s TMNT cost $125 million to produce and plans to expand to more than 3,800 locations. The film stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Danny Woodburn, Abby Elliott, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson and Minae Noji and based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.

The official film synopsis for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

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 (Fox) and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick (Arnett) to save the city and unravel Shredder’s diabolical plan.

Last weekend’s megastar Guardians of the Galaxy will be TMNT‘s main competition after it debuted to $94.3 million. Analysts believe Guardians will continue to be a strong performer in the coming weeks, predicting an additional $45 million this weekend.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ Into The Storm, about the record-breaking ambush of tornadoes, opened with $800K last night. It screened in over 3,434 theaters and is expected to generate $18 million at the box office.

DreamWorks’ The Hundred-Foot Journey, a dueling chefs tale, and Summit’s Step Up All In, the fifth installment in the franchise, will both premiere in more than 2,000 locations. Journey is expected to take in $10 million and the latest Step Up to gross $8 million.