As you may know, we’ve been away a little while so for this week’s box-office scoop we’ll have to cover the past two weeks of ticket sales.
The beginning of the summer season of film produced hit after hit: Captain America 2, Spider-Man 2, Maleficent, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Godzilla and X-Men 7 all greatly impressed. The second half of it has had the odd exception such as Guardians of the Galaxy or Dawn of the Planet of the Apes but has generally underperformed. This week’s attempt at ending a disappointing summer is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, dim in prospect but the fans of the cartoon are in legion. Last week we predicted it’d top the chart but let’s find out how it really did.
US:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Director: Jonathan Liebesman – $65.6 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $42.1 million
- Into the Storm – Steven Quale – $17.3 million
- The Hundred-Foot Journey – Lasse Halstrom – $11 million
- Lucy – Luc Besson – $9.5 million
UK:
- The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris – £12.5 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £3.3 million
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – £1.7 million
- Planes: Fire and Rescue – Roberts Gannaway – £1 million
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois – £9 million
TMNT hasn’t quite been the smash to elevate this summer from its sunken spirits but it’s still a very impressive debut, similar to this year’s 22 Jump Street and Maleficent. However, it might not have the same legs internationally. Anything over $500 million worldwide may be unlikely. Marvel’s interstellar Guardians have decreased drastically but a half-a-billion gross appears to be on the cards. Disaster thriller Into the Storm has made a fairly modest $20 million while Lasse Halstrom’s latest, The Hundred-Foot Journey, has made a surprise entry in this week’s top 5. In the UK, fans of the hit comedy show The Inbetweeners will likely be thrilled to hear that the second feature spin off of the series now has the title of this year’s highest UK opening weekend, ahead of Transformers: Age of Extinction. This week I’ve scored 8/10.
US:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
- The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes
- Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield
- The Giver – Phillip Noyce
UK:
- The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris
- The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois
For the next week of releases, we’re trying to place three new releases in the US box office, no mean task. The Expendables 3, a sequel to a pair of greatly high grossing films and starring one of the year’s biggest ensembles (Stallone, Snipes, Statham, Schwarzenegger, Gibson, Ford, Banderes, Grammer, Li, Crews, Lundgren, Couture), may be set to flop giving a fighting chance to comedy Let’s Be Cops or drama The Giver.
US:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman – $28.5 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $25.1 million
- Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – $17.8 million
- The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes – $15.9 million
- The Giver – Phillip Noyce – $12.3 million
UK:
- The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris – £4.3 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £2.1 million
- The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes – £1.7 million
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – £1.1 million
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois – £0.6 million
Considering that previous instalments have taken $300 million plus, The Expendables 3 will have to go down as a huge flop. Well publicised pirating may have been its downfall but I’d think the fact that none of the Expendables have had a non-franchise commercial hit in years. The new TMNT instalment has dropped greatly from its opening weekend but that’ll be no worry to an already impressive domestic tally. On both sides of the Atlantic, Marvel’s space opera Guardians of the Galaxy is continuing to impress. British comedy sequel The Inbetweeners 2 has decreased two thirds of its debut taking of £12 million so the first film’s total of £50 million bay be out of reach. This week I’ve scored 6/10.
US:
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
- Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman
- If I Stay – RJ Cutler
- The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes
UK:
- Lucy – Luc Besson
- The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris
- Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
- What If – Michael Dowse
Megan Fox and Pete Ploszek in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this week’s US number one.
Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Simon Bird in The Inbetweeners 2, this week’s US number one
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