Weekend Box Office Report: August 8-10, 2014

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!

One set of colorful comic book characters kicked another from the top of the box office this weekend, as TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES took #1 with an estimated $65 million!

The new Michael Bay-produced version of the comic/cartoon/videogame superstars made more on its opening weekend than their last appearance, 2007's computer-animated TMNT, made in total domestically ($54.1 million). It's also an opening weekend high for director Jonathan Liebesman (WRATH OF THE TITANS, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES).

The pizza-loving reptile quartet has serious pop culture longevity — the first live-action adaptation of the (non-CGI) half-shell heroes made over $200 million worldwide back in 1990. Still, current audiences weren't totally hip to the lipped update of the characters, giving the movie a 'B' CinemaScore, and critics shredded it with a 19% average on Rotten Tomatoes.

Update: The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES sequel has already been scheduled for June 3, 2016.

Marvel's latest smash GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY slipped to second with $41.5 million, a drop of 56% from its opening last week. The space heroes are up to a 10-day total of $175.9 million, and there's a decent chance it could end up passing TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION's $243 million total to become the summer's biggest domestic hit (though Michael Bay's robo-clash is over $1 billion worldwide, versus GUARDIANS' current $313 million global total).

The new weather disaster flick INTO THE STORM opened in third place with $18 million. The movie featured Richard Armitage (THE HOBBITs) and Sarah Wayne Callies ("The Walking Dead") but the devastating tornadoes were the big stars, and even they didn't really impress crowds ('B' CinemaScore) or critics (21% on Rotten Tomatoes).

The Helen Mirren restaurant drama THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY opened in fourth with $11.1 million and the best viewer reception of the new releases ('A' CinemaScore and 64% on Rotten Tomatoes). Scarlett Johansson's LUCY wasn't far behind with $9.3 million as director Luc Besson's narcotic-enhanced heroine scratches at the $100 million mark.

STEP UP ALL IN strutted into sixth with an opening of $6.5 million. The fifth entry in the apparently inexhaustible dancing series couldn't crack the top half of the chart, yet still registered higher than TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES with critics and moviegoers (42% on RT and a 'B+' CinemaScore). And it's also already pulled in an additional $37.7 million internationally (the previous one in the series, STEP UP REVOLUTION, finished with $140.4 million worldwide).

HERCULES followed in seventh place, and the James Brown biopic GET ON UP went on down to eighth in its second weekend, a tumble of 63% from its third-place opening. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES has now hit a global total of $503 million to pass RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES' $481.8 worldwide finish, and Disney's PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE circles the bottom of the list.

Outside the chart, THE PURGE: ANARCHY, SEX TAPE, AND SO IT GOES and A MOST WANTED MAN got displaced, Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD (now on 500 screens) is up to $10.6 million total, and it seems nobody really wanted to see director James Cameron sink to the bottom of the ocean — his documentary DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D only pulled in $150k on 304 screens.

Next week brings Sylvester Stallone's latest action-star roundup THE EXPENDABLES 3, Jeff Bridges stars in THE GIVER, and (on Wednesday) Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. take the law into their own hands in LET'S BE COPS.  In limited release, Michael Fassbender has a big head in FRANK, Aubrey Plaza is a zombie in LIFE AFTER BETH, and Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon go on THE TRIP TO ITALY.

Who would you like to see join a new EXPENDABLES movie? VOTE HERE!