Box Office: 'TMNT' Stays No. 1; 'Let's Be Cops' Beats 'Expendables 3'
By Pamela McClintock
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy easily stayed atop the North American box office as The Expendables 3 underperformed in its debut, grossing $16.2 million.
That’s by far a franchise worst. The first Expendables debuted to $34.8 million domestically in August 2010, followed by $28.6 million for the sequel in August 2012. Both those films were rated R, while the threequel is rated PG-13, meaning it should have seen a boost from being more family friendly.
In addition to potential fatigue, a pristine copy of Expendables 3 leaked on the Internet hurt the movie’s box office performance, much like what happened when X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pirated before its release in 2009.
From Lionsgate and Millennium, Expendables 3 was even beat by 20th Century Fox’s Let’s Be Cops to come in No. 4 domestically. Let’s Be Cops, placing No. 3, took in $17.7 million for the weekend for a pleasing five-day debut of $26.1 million (the R-rated comedy opened Wednesday). The weekend’s third new player, YA film adaptation The Giver, rounded out the top five with $12.8 million.
Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies’ TMNT remained at No. 1 in its second weekend, falling 57 percent to an estimated $28.2 million for a domestic total north of $117 million.
Disney and Marvel’s Guardians, crossing the $200 million mark in its third weekend in North America, followed with an estimated $24.7 million for a domestic cume of $222.3 million through Sunday (that’s ahead of fellow summer tentpole The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which grossed $203 million domestically yet). Better yet, Guardians raced past $400 million at the global box office.
Expendables 3, featuring a multigenerational lineup of action stars, is hoping to make up ground overseas, where it began rolling out this weekend in a number of markets, including Russia, a haven for action. Numbers weren’t immediately available.
The Expendables series is the brainchild of Sylvester Stallone and Avi Lerner, whose Nu Image/Millennium partnered with Lionsgate on the series. The films have generally cost in the $90 million range to produce and have done especially big business overseas. Expendables 2 took in $220.4 million internationally, compared to $85 million in North America.
This time out, Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Jason Statham) and other team members battle villain Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). The sprawling cast includes Harrison Ford, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Terry Crews, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz and Robert Davi.
Buddy action comedy Let’s Be Cops, starring Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson, cost Fox a modest $17 million to make. Directed by Luke Greenfield, the comedy follows two friends who pretend to be Los Angeles police officers. Andy Garcia, Nina Dobrev, Rob Riggle, Keegan-Michael Key and James D’Arcy also star in the film, which earned a B CinemaScore.
Going after younger moviegoers and faith-based audiences was The Giver, directed by Phillip Noyce and based on Lois Lowry’s 1993 YA novel of the same name. More than two decades in the making, the $30 million film was co-financed and co-produced by The Weinstein Co. and Walden Media.
The Giver, starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and BrentonThwaites, came in slightly less than expected after earning a B+ CinemaScore.
Twitter:@PamelaDayM
