In spite of a long and troubled gestation that provoked a nasty fan reaction with purported changes to the TMNT canon wrought by producer Michael Bay, and despite several postponements due to the need for reshoots (never a good sign, see "Live-Action 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Delayed Again"), Paramount’s attempt to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise got off to a roaring start as the reptilian quartet shredded the weekend box office with a $65 million debut, the fourth biggest August bow in history.  With Guardians of the Galaxy slipping just 56% from its August record debut, the weekend box office soared again with the top 12 films scoring a 22% gain over the same frame last year when Elysium debuted with $29.8 million.  While the August revival remains unlikely to make up the huge deficit from May, June, and July, this month does have the potential to become highest-grossing August in box office history.
 
The live-action TMNT film not only triumphed over fan skepticism, it obliterated the collective scorn of movie critics, who awarded the film a pathetic 19% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  Yes, the film may be a turkey, but there has been a dearth of family-oriented entertainment this summer, and the Turtles franchise remains a fond memory for many of today’s college students and young adults who remember the Turtles cartoons from the property’s peak of popularity in the 1990s.  Given the reboot’s robust debut, Paramount wasted no time in announcing that a live-action sequel was in the works and is slated for debut on June 3, 2016.
 
The new "PG-13" live-action Turtles movie attracted an audience that was predominantly male (61%), and pretty well-balanced in terms of age with just 55% over 25.  Hispanics made up 36% of the audience, which gave the film a mediocre "B" CinemaScore.  Paramount used a wide-ranging media campaign with high-profile promotions with Pizza Hut and Pringles, and it delivered an opening weekend debut that was substantially above the $50 million that most analysts were predicting.  Now, the word is that the new Turtles movie’s modest CinemaScore will lead to big drop-off next, week and that may well happen, but the underlying potency of the TMNT property should not be overlooked--after all, even Michael Bay couldn’t kill it.
 
James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy dropped 56% from its August record debut last weekend, a fall that is only marginally better than those of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (57%), and Thor: The Dark World (also off 57%), though it should be said that in today’s increasingly front-loaded world of cinema blockbusters, anything below a 60% fall is "good."  So far Guardians’ overseas numbers remain modest, with big markets like China (October) still to come, so, while Marvel Studios and Disney certainly deserve praise for launching the new Guardians property successfully, the full extent of that success is yet to be determined.
 
Third place this weekend when to Warner Bros.’ "found-footage" disaster film Into the Storm, which posted a modest $5,246 average at 3,400 theaters.  The film’s $50 million budget was spent on special effects tornadoes instead of stars, which may have limited its appeal somewhat when compared to similar films like Twister.   Into the Storm attracted an audience of older (71% over 25) females (58%), who gave the movie a mediocre "B" CinemaScore, further obscuring its prospects, which appear very limited at this time, though it will certainly make its modest cost back.
 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): August 8-10, 2014

 

Film

Weekend Gross

Screens

Avg./

Screen

Total Gross

Wk#

1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

$65,000,000

3,845

$16,905

$65,000,000

1

2

Guardians of the Galaxy

$41,531,000

4,088

$10,159

$175,922,000

2

3

Into The Storm

$18,015,000

3,434

$5,246

$18,015,000

1

4

The Hundred-Foot Journey

$11,123,000

2,023

$5,498

$11,123,000

1

5

Lucy

$9,331,000

3,147

$2,965

$97,354,000

3

6

Step Up All In

$6,575,000

2,072

$3,173

$6,575,000

1

7

Hercules

$5,700,000

2,896

$1,968

$63,461,000

3

8

Get On Up

$5,012,000

2,469

$2,030

$22,927,000

2

9

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

$4,400,000

2,306

$1,908

$197,834,000

5

10

Planes: Fire & Rescue

$2,419,000

2,280

$1,061

$52,950,000

4

Disney’s attempt to counter the summer box office fare of action movies and R-rated comedies with Lasse Hallestrom’s "foodie" comedy/drama The Hundred-Foot Journey, which stars Helen Mirren, appears to be off to a good start as the film earned $11 million as it debuted in 2,023 theaters.  This sort of “accessible” art house movie tends to have pretty good “legs,” since these films attract older audiences who are not easily stampeded into theaters by tie-ins with Fritos or Slim Jims.  More than 40% of the audience for The Hundred-Foot Journey was over 50, and they gave the film a solid "A" CinemaScore, which should insure that this $22 million saga of two competing restaurants in a small French village will become a modest success.
 
Luc Besson’s Lucy slipped to #4 in its third weekend in theaters, as it fell 48.9% and brought in $9.3 million to bring its domestic total to $97.3 million.  The Scarlett Johansson-starring film should be over the $100 million mark by next weekend.
 
Sixth-place went to the street dance movie Step Up All In, which opened to modest $6.6 million with a $3,173 average in just over 2,000 theaters.  Fortunately for Lionsgate and the makers of this latest entry in the kinetic dance franchise, the latest Step Up movie has already earned $44 million overseas, which might be almost enough to insure the future of the franchise.
 
Brett Ratner’s Hercules, which is based on the Radical Comics series, slipped to #7 in its third weekend of release.  So far the film has earned $63.4 million here in the U.S., where it will have to struggle to make the $75 million mark.  Overseas, the verdict is still out due to the disruption of the World Cup, which created a logjam of action movies.
 
Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes fell to the ninth spot as it earned $4.4 million and brought its total to $197.8 million.  It should pass the $200 million mark by this time next week, and it has already earned $306 million overseas for a worldwide total of $504 million.
 
Check back here next week for what could be one of the most wide-open weekends of the summer with the geri-action extravaganza The Expendables 3 opening along with the Weinstein Company’s The Giver, an adaptation of Lois Lowry's science fiction novel, and Fox’s heavily-hyped (on TV), but "unavailable to critics" comedy Let’s Be Cops.

--Tom Flinn