Weekend Box Office Report: August 29-31, 2014

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Guardians of the Galaxy still got it!

Marvel's oddball interstellar heroes once again floated to the top of the chart as GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY won the Labor Day weekend with an estimated $16.3 million!

Not only did director James Gunn's irreverent space-blast make it across the half-billion mark worldwide this week, it also became the highest-grossing domestic release of 2014, surpassing THE LEGO MOVIE and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (which leaves only Marvel's IRON MAN trilogy and AVENGERS ahead of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY in their movie universe). And without a lot of notable competition in the month of September, GUARDIANS could end up cruising to $300 million.

Sticking around in second was TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES with an additional $11.7 million. The radical anthropomorphic reptiles held off the teen drama IF I STAY — Chloe Moretz decided to stay in third with $9.2 million (a drop of 40% from its opening last week). The young-adult adaptation has a 10-day total of $29.8 million.

The new Parisian catacombs thriller AS ABOVE/SO BELOW opened in fourth with $8.3 million. Although it got a better start than the week's other new offering, the found-footage subterranean terror from the Dowdle Brothers (QUARANTINE, DEVIL) got suffocated by crowds with a 'C-' CinemaScore, and critics buried it with 30% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The R-rated comedy LET'S BE COPS is still bamboozling in fifth with another $8.2 million for a total of $57.3 million in its third weekend. The Pierce Brosnan action-thriller THE NOVEMBER MAN got a chilly reception in sixth with a $7.6 million opening ($9.3 million since Wednesday). The former Bond's new espionage effort seemed to excite moviegoers ('B+' CinemaScore) more than critics (36% on Rotten Tomatoes).

Last week's inspirational sports movie WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL got moved downfield to seventh with $5.6 million, a drop of only 32% from its opening. THE GIVER and THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY followed and seem to be coasting on word-of-mouth business, but THE EXPENDABLES 3 remains on life-support as it clutches to the bottom of the list after three weeks.

Outside the chart, INTO THE STORM was swept away and Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR got run out of town after a single week and a pitiful $10.7 million 10-day total. CHEF and BEGIN AGAIN received a theatrical surge, adding a few hundred screens for late-summer attention, and GHOSTBUSTERS returned to action for a 30th anniversary re-release and trapped $1.6 million.

Check back tomorrow for the full 2014 Summer Box Office Wrap-up!

Next weekend only has one wide release with the music drama THE IDENTICAL, while FORREST GUMP gets a 20th anniversary reissue on 300 IMAX screens.

What September release are you most interested in seeing? VOTE HERE!