Michael Bay reboot defies bad reviews, opens above expectations
Industry number-watchers have their eyes on this weekend’s box-office totals, looking to see if one of the best-reviewed blockbusters of Summer 2014 could hold onto it’s #1 spot for a second week against a challenge from one of the year’s worst-reviewed blockbusters. Now, with Friday’s numbers coming in, it’s looking like the critical-dud is coming out on top with audiences.
Projected to open in the $40 million range for the weekend (which had many analysts predicting that the Marvel Studio’s mega-hit Guardians of The Galaxy would hold onto the top spot for a second week, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has instead performed well over expectations and now looks set to finish the weekend with as much as $60 million. While it wasn’t enough to keep first place, Guardians performed similarly strong; dropping only 55% from its first weekend and on track to add another $42 million to the $100 million-plus totals that already have Marvel/Disney itching for a sequel.
Turtles’ big take almost certainly guarantees that Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes company have a new moneymaking franchise on their hands (three previous TMNT features and one animated installment were released by Warner Bros and New Line Cinema.) The industry as a whole will be happy to see this weekend’s box-office up 15% from last year overall; though analysts are anxious to see how next weekend’s big opener, Expendables 3, will endure the high-profile leak of the entire completed film to piracy sites several weeks ago.
Source: Deadline Hollywood
