Moviegoers have been racing to Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” propelling the wisecracking terrapins to an opening weekend as high as $60 million at the U.S. box office, although Paramount is tempering expectations with a $50 to $55 million prediction.
Friday afternoon forecasts placed “Turtles” well ahead of the second weekend of Marvel-Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which looked likely to finish the frame between $41 and $46 million.
“Turtles” started strongly Friday with initial estimates in the $19 to $25 million range — including $4.6 million in late-night screenings Thursday at 2,651 locations.
Paramount has promoted the pizza-eating reptiles aggressively, drawing on the appeal of the previous films, TV shows and toy lines. The studio’s most recent projections had placed the “Turtles” in the low-$40 million range, but the first-day business sends a strong signal that the film has more traction than forecasters expected.
The rebooted “Turtles,” produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and starring Megan Fox, carries a $125 million price tag. It appears that the new film will outgross the entire domestic cume of $42.3 million for 1993’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III,” the most recent terrapin tale.
Jesus. I thought Guardians was a lock to be #1 this weekend. I was expecting this to flop big time.
movie was pretty awful. I guess it's more kid oriented since there were so many kids with their parents at movies. I was a bit embarassed. But I had to go support Megan... she hasn't had a good track record since Transformers and I don't want ha to be blacklisted for being box office poison. her kids need to eat.
It looks horrible, the trailers look horrible, and nobody IRL is talking about it. It''s not like Transformers 4 where everyone was talking about how ****** it looked and saw it anyway. This just feels like such a nonevent.
For this to get such a big opening in August is stunning, especially after Guardians (which kinda shares the same audience) did so huge last week. Interesting turn of events in box office after Lucy, Guardians and this have all overperformed.